Daily Archives: December 28, 2010

A new job, a lot like the old job

It’s about time I let you all know I have a new job.

It started Nov. 28, but as you can tell from my continued coverage of Bainbridge and my presence here on this blog, the new job is a lot like the old job.

I still cover Bainbridge (although I do it mostly from Bremerton), and I still work for the Kitsap Sun.

The difference is I’m now a full-time staffer, which means I get business cards and a computer and a nice little cubicle in this cheerful place reporters here lovingly call the Sungeon. Get it? Sun + Dungeon = Sungeon. It’s a fun place.

And I’m also spending a bit of my time (say around 25 percent) covering parts of North Kitsap: Kingston, Port Gamble, Hansville and that hotbed of action and intrigue, Eglon.

My most recent North Kitsap story was this profile of Icelandic ice cream makers in Poulsbo. I also shot the video that’s linked to it. That’s another new thing about the job – shooting videos and shooting more photos.

I am also doing my part to clear Bremerton’s streets of dog carcasses. But that’s another story.

I have a new e-mail address: tbaurick@kitsapsun.com, and a new phone number: (360) 792-9212.

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Former BI couple’s newspaper biz is booming

Around this time last year, I wrote a story about the Matthees, a longtime Bainbridge couple that moved to a small Eastern Washington town to take over its tiny newspaper.

Buying a newspaper in this day and age might seem about as sane as hiring a battery of scribes during the advent of movable type.

But Imbert and Karen Matthee were undaunted. In short order, they redesigned the paper and gave it its first-ever online presence with social networking tools like Facebook, and later a Web page, waitsburgtimes.com.

Their success continues to grow. The Washington Newspaper Publishers Association reported this month that the Waitsburg Times’ circulation has increased 30 percent since the Matthees took over.

They’ve also opened an office in the neighboring city of Dayton and hired their first news staffer – a managing editor – to help expand their coverage area and take on some of the varied duties shouldered by the Matthees.

The main office, in Waitsburg, may soon become something of a community information and copy center, with a public-use computer workstation, high-volume copier and image scanning services.

For a more in-depth update on what the Matthees are up to, check out this recent profile of Imbert Matthee by Walla Walla Lifestyles.

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