Thursday, September 22, 2011 - Watertown Daily Times

C M Y KWATERTOWN DAILY TIMESThursday, September 22, 2011 E5Editors extended WDT’s reach by emphasizing local news coverage...From E3River communities, northernOswego County and those tooexpensive to send by telegramfrom Washington arrived bymail. Dozens of local correspondentsfrom every crossroadsin the north ce an inch fortheir stories —submitted theirmostly-handwritten copy bymail.There were some distinctivecopy desk rules. For example:•The word “area” was notallowed. I was told the publisherfelt it had been over-used.•Italic type was not permitted.•The words “street, avenue,boulevard,” etc., were never tobe abbreviated and never capitalized.• “SUNY” was not allowed.The local college, for example,was Potsdam State Universitycollege— with college not capitalized.• Any form of the word“gut” was absolutely forbidden.Fire could destroy, but notgut, a building.•The local news was on theback page.•The page one lead storywas always headlined with aneight column banner headlinein all caps. Hardly any exceptions.• We were never to losesight that it was a family-orientednewspaper and nothingwhich might be considered offensiveto core family valueswould be highlighted, either instories or photographs.• All names in locally-writtenstories were required toinclude middle initials. No exceptions.“Ms.” was unacceptable.If a lady was unmarried,she was a “Miss.”• Soft-lead editing pencilswere kept in the city editor’sdesk and were distributed oneat a time.Competition was very muchon the mind of the editors andreporters. The Syracuse paperoffered home delivery inWatertown. WWNY radio andtelevision, owned by the newspaper,had an active news department,as well, and wasconsidered competition by theprint journalists of the Times.WOTT radio also had a busynews department. The PostStandard and the broadcastingoutlets were closely monitoredand being “scooped” onlocal stories was unacceptableto the newspaper editors. TheOgdensburg Journal, MaloneTelegram and Adirondack Enterprise---competingdailiesin St. Lawrence and FranklinCounties, respectively, wereclosely monitored as were thecompeting weeklies in Adams,Alexandria Bay, Carthage,Lowville, Gouverneur, Massena,Potsdam, Pulaski andSandy Creek.WWNY broadcast reportersleft their evening scripts at thecopy desk (company policy!)for review by the print journaliststhe following morning.That notwithstanding, majorstories developed during theday by the newspapermenwere usually not shared withthe broadcasters!Our editors were responsiblefor the the paper’s reach andvitality.Gordon W. Bryant, the cigarchompingexecutive editorwho began his career with thenewspaper in high school, wasresponsible for editing the editorialpage. His reputation wasthat of a tough old-schooler,but he had mellowed somewhatwhen he reached his seventies.Frederick H. Kimball, a softspoken, kind and gentle man,was the city editor and responsiblefor the overall productionof the daily news product.I recall him being rattled onlyonce when a local businessman—whohad a well deservedreputation for his pomposity— came storming into the officeto complain about a story.Fred listened patiently whilehis coworkers watched the unfoldingdevelopments. Withoutraising his voice and displayingno anger, he told the businessman“you are standing on atrap door and if you don’t leaveRay Robinson boxed in Watertown in 1939 and received thenickname “Sugar” in a story by Times Sports Editor Jack Case, right.right now, I’ll pull the lever undermy desk and you’ll drop tothe first floor.” The shockedbusinessman backed up immediatelyand stormed out ofthe building in a huff holdinghis straw hat under his arm; thestaff gave Fred a standing ovationand he just smiled withoututtering a further word.Howard Lennon, the editorwho was responsible forpage one, was as unflappableas Fred Kimball. He monitoredthe numerous wire services towhich the Times subscribed —AP, UPI, Washington Post andthe Los Angeles Times, amonga multitude of others. He, too,was as cool as a cucumber. Healso edited the Historical Societynewsletter.Frank Augustine was thestate editor, responsible forall news from correspondentsoutside the city. He was also thepolitical writer who occasionallywent to Albany for specialassignments. He later becamean editorial writer. He was a seriousjournalist.His successors as state editorwere John W. Overacker,whose wife was the Saturdaysociety page editor, and R.Gareth “Gary” Service, whosewife was Alexandria Bay correspondent.John was an affablemumbler with a gregariousstyle —he would makefrequent trips to his nativeSt. Lawrence County to interviewhis personal sourcesfor stories about politics inthat county. Gary smokedcigarette after cigarette asthe pressures of deadlinesapproached. Both were greatteachers, though they neverwould have thought of themselvesas such.Many of the reporters of thatera are featured in other storiesin this section . Others shouldbe mentioned as well.Robert Spath covered countygovernment; James C. Brettlocal law enforcement andJohn H. Brior, city government— his wife, Elizabeth was WatertownCity Clerk and was hisbest news source.Mayors and City Councilmembers often first learned oftheir meeting agendas in thepaper. A cynic of local government,he once told me “if youwant to show a local politicianfor what he really is, just quotehim directly… don’t clean upthe quotes.”Boyd W. Moffett of BlackRiver was an editorial writerwho also edited the Farm andGarden Saturday supplement.Reporters who were asked byBoyd to write a feature story forthat supplement were paid anadditional $5.David F. Lane, who was frailand elderly when I joined thestaff, was a historian. Havingsuffered a stroke, he came towork after the rest of the staffleft the building at 3 each afternoon.He spent hours scouringwills filed with the courts andwrote in detail about many ofthem—sometimes to the dismayof heirs — right down tothe disposition of householdgoods! His stories were wellread, but copy editors’ nightmares.Bob Farmer and I wouldcringe at David’s sentences of ahundred words each.As a native Watertonianwhose family’s north countryroots dated back to the 1800s,I intended to spend my careerat the newspaper. I lovedthe competitive nature of thenews business and enjoyed thefriendships I made throughoutthe region.As appreciative as I wasof the lessons learned fromthe journalists with whom Iworked, I was frustrated bywhat was an obvious reality —professional advancement wasat least a decade away as theTimes veterans weren’t aboutto retire.As difficult as it was the leaveWatertown and a comfortablelifestyle, I accepted an offerto become a copy and layout(design) editor at the Gannettflagship paper -- the RochesterDemocrat and Chronicle.It was an exciting opportunityto broaden my experience on anewspaper which was a springboardfor young journalists advancingquickly through Gannett’snational news hierarchy.After only a few monthsin Rochester, I received an unexpectedtelephone call fromthen-Congressman Robert C.McEwen of Ogdensburg. Heasked if we could meet for dinnerat the Syracuse airport afew days later when he wouldbe enroute back to Washingtonafter his usual weekend in thenorth country.After a snowstorm drivefrom Rochester to Syracusealong the Thruway (includinga fender-bender with a plow)I met with him in the diningroom of the Syracuse AirportInn. We discussed the NorthCountry news business fortwo hours resulting in his offeringme the position as hisPress Secretary in Washington.Viewing it as a chance tolearn the Washington newsbusiness, I accepted with thecaveat that I’d give it “a try fora year or so.” That “try” becamea three decade career. Iassumed that position on Jan.1, 1969 and upon his retirementin 1981, I was offered thesenior staff position with hissuccessors David O’B. Martin,and John M. McHugh, beforeI decided in 2000 that 30-plusyears in Washington wasenough.The feeling of awe in commutingto the Capitol dome everymorning was beginning towane and the draw of the northcountry was getting stronger.I decided that the best view ofWashington at that time wasfrom a rear-view mirror.Today, 11 years into retirementI still believe it is. It was afun career and it began at theWatertown Times.Cary Brick is a resident of Claytonand serves on numerous boardsand committees, including theThousand Islands Foundationand the Clayton Local DevelopmentCorporation. He chairs theClayton Heritage Alliance, anorganization of 31 nonprofit organizations,and is an elected Townof Clayton Fire District Commissioner.He served as a ClaytonVillage Justice for four years andas a retired Judge, continues toperform marriages throughout thenorth country.