By now you’ve all seen how we celebrated our 75th anniversary in print. I hope you enjoyed the special section, and the online companion piece. I’ve been raving about the ‘How News is Made’ video the past two days, and not because of my performance. It just did such a nice job capturing so many aspects of a day here, as well as the thoughts and personalities that are a part of putting the Sun out. If you see Angela Dice on the street, tell her “nice job.”
The anniversary day here was filled with, naturally, putting together news for kitsapsun.com and Friday’s paper. You can’t completely close down for a party at a daily operation. But we did take some time to savor the moment.
Management grilled hot
dogs and burgers out behind the office and we shared a big staff
lunch in the afternoon. The in-house ping pong tournament was won
by Circulation Manager Dennis Harang, who then compared himself to
Kobe Bryant for the focus it took to climb such a mountain. He
might have been joking. In the evening we unveiled the
“Newspapers in Art” show at Collective Visions Gallery. First
prize went to “Paperboy,” by Brett Enos, seen just below. Second
was “Zenoscope” by Frank Corsey and Ron Harper, and Bruce Enns
earned third for his box covered with portrait illustrations and a
poem, titled “Faces of Kitsap.”
We also welcomed Paul Scripps, who flew up from San Diego. Like I mentioned in Thursday’s special section, when Paul visits he always takes the time to greet everyone in the office and expresses how much this newspaper means to his family. His father was the man who rescued the Sun in 1940, and to hear Paul tell it this place never left the heart of John P. Scripps. Paul’s a true gentleman, and to hear him share about our history — from “an acorn to an oak” is how he phrased it — was special.
I also had a few notes leftover that didn’t make today’s “75 Things You May Not Know About the Sun” I’ll share here.
First, I omitted Ed Friedrich from the list of long-time employees — Ed should have been listed as having been here 25 years. (There was a break in his tenure, so I think HR categorized him incorrectly. Still, I should have caught it.) Secondly, I didn’t find a space to point out one more interesting thing about former editor Gene Gisley: Gisley wasn’t a journalist by trade initially. He was a professional printer, and came up through that side of the business before moving into a reporter’s desk. That doesn’t happen often. Third, when preparing a presentation on our 75th that I’ve given to a few Rotary Clubs, I found Gisley’s notes from 25 years ago. One is a memo scheduling an appointment to speak to a Kiwanis Club. The contact name on that yellowed sheet of paper is Vic Ulsh, now head broker at Bradley Scott — and the same guy who arranged my speech to the East Bremerton Rotary Club on Wednesday. The more things change…
Finally, I apologize for being a little light here on the blog lately. I’ve been busy working on that 75th anniversary material and got a little swamped. But there’s a few ideas kicking around on items to share, and I’m planning to get back into a more regular schedule of keeping you up to date on the comings and goings of a newsroom.
—David
