Thursday, September 22, 2011 - Watertown Daily Times

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C M Y KE6 Thursday, September 22, 2011WATERTOWN DAILY TIMESStopping the presses helped WDT reporter get her start...From E4the past 50 years. The composingroom of old is as vintage asthe Victrola.In September 1968 a reporter’sjob opened in The Timeseditorial room and I was interviewedfor the job by then newseditor Frank P. Augustine. Thiswould launch a nearly 22-yearadventure as a Watertown DailyTimes reporter.While The Times facilitieswere only seven years old in1968, the editorial staff was asveteran as the cast of a 1930smovie. That fall Mary Lu (West)White and I were the only staffersunder the age of 30 until wewere joined by David N. Mc-Mane. By the end of 1969 therewere about 10 young newsroomstaffers as we watched the stalwartsof the editorial room beginto retire, one by one.Dave McMane would takeover the reins from Howard Lennon,Mary Lu would succeedHiltberg and I followed JohnPepp as main obit writer alongwith duties as a feature writer.In 1973 I was assigned a storyabout John and Mark Scarlett,who had both left white collarjobs in Rochester to take up organicfarming and maple sugarproduction on small farms nearRossie. The full page feature waslater picked up by the AssociatedPress and I won an honorablemention in the AP enterprisewriting category that year.About a decade later I wouldwrite more about Mark Scarlett,who was back in the “whitecollar world,” then serving onthe Development Authority ofthe North Country.SO NEAR YET SO FARAs the village of Lake Placidprepared to take on the worldat the 1980 Winter Olympics,the Times put together a fivereporterteam to cover the extravaganzafrom sports to thestreet scene. Bert Gault, LarryCole, John O’Donnell and Ijoined Adirondack correspondentEd Hale for the coverage.My beat was the streetscene, activities at the artscenter and various features.One day, parked along the villagemain street was a vehiclemade from the fuselage of anairplane and the cabin froman old Cadillac - hence Cadaplane.I compared it to a “midaircollision between the mostunlikeliest of objects” and itwas one of the most fun featuresto come from the LakePlacid streets.While I got to see EricHeiden receive his 5th goldmedal in a ceremony onLake Flower, I did not get tosee the Miracle on Ice (JohnO’Donnell did). The “TimesOlympic Team” won its own“medal” - taking the NewYork State Publishers’ AssociationAward of Excellence forlocal reporting for 1980.THE CAISSONS GO ROLLING ALONGIn the early 1980s co-workerMeg Kissinger earn nationalfame when, under her bylinethe Times became the first toreport the real identity of BarryFreed -- Abby Hoffman.When she left for anotherjob, I took over Ms. Kissinger’smain beat, Fort Drum.In the summer of 1982 theM-1 Abrams tank was being introducedand a tank and crewwere brought to Fort Drum tofamiliarize the Guard and Reservewith its operation. Editorand Publisher John B. JohnsonSr. thought it would be a greatidea for me to drive that tankand write about the experience.After being outfitted witha complete battle dress uniformand given instructionsby the crew from Fort Knox,Ky., I took the driver’s seat inthe compartment beneath themain cannon of that 60- tonpiece of awesomeness and putit through its paces over dirtroads and scrub brush on theFort Drum training range.Exhilarating seems likesuch a small word to describethe experience of driving thiswicked piece of machinery thathandled with the response of asports car, but that’s how it felt!The biggest on-going story ofmy 22 years in the city room hasto be the selection of Fort Drumas the home of the 10th MountainDivision, bringing the largestsingle Army constructioncontract since World War II toFort Drum as well as a stellarroster of the Army’s finest officersto lead the formation ofthe new division including Maj.Rich Alcott, WDT copy editorBrian Amaral, WDT reporterElaine Avallone, Carthage Republican TribunereporterBob Beckstead, Massena Daily Courier-ObserverreporterTed Booker, Ogdensburg Journal reporterChris Brock, WDT features writerDoug Buchanan, Malone Telegram editorMatt Bultman, Massena Daily Courier-ObserverreporterCap Carey, WDT Canton, sportsLisa Carr, WDT librarianDan Cassavaugh, WDT sportsJohn Day, WDT sportsHeather Ditch, WDT copy editorCathie Egan, WDT copy editorMartha Ellen, WDT Canton reporterKen Eyseman, WDT business magazine editorBenny Fairchild, Massena Daily Courier-ObserverreporterCraig Fox, WDT reporterRichard Fyle, WDT sportsAndy Gardner, Malone Telegram reporterBert Gault, WDT executive editorGreg Gay, WDT sports editorJohn Gokey, Malone Evening Telegramsports editorJosh Gore, WDT Canton reporterBob Gorman, WDT managing editorBrian Hayden, Massena Daily Courier-ObserverreporterKyle Hayes, WDT news clerkSteve Heaton, Ogdensburg Journal sportsMarc Heller, WDT Washington bureauGen. William S. Carpenter andGeneral Jack Keane, who wouldgo on to become Chairman ofthe Joint Chiefs of Staff.My marriage to a Fort Drumofficer in 1986 would eventuallylead to my having to leave myreporting career in 1990 as weSarah Haase, WDT reporterGabrielle Hovendon, WDT Canton reporterJason Hunter, WDT photographerJudy Jacobs, WDT Currents editorRay Jarvis, WDT copy editorAmanda Johnson, WDT copy editorNorm Johnston, WDT chief photographerLaurie Jones, WDT news clerkMary Kaskan, WDT Sunday editorBrian Kelly, WDT reporterBrian Kidwell, Ogdensburg Journal reporterMelanie Kimbler Lago, WDT Canton photographerTracy Kinne, WDT state editorJerry Koepsell, WDT wire editorJimmy Lawton, Ogdensburg JournalJaegun Lee, WDT reporterKevin Leroux, Massena Daily Courier-Observernight editorDean Lichterman, Ogdensburg Journal copyeditorTricia Livernois, Malone Telegram reporterTom Lloyd, editor, Lowville Journal & Republicanand Carthage Republican TribuneBeth Lyons, Ogdensburg Journal city editorRebecca Madden, WDT reporterNancy Madsen, WDT reporterRyne Martin, Massena Daily Courier-ObservereditorMatt McAllister, Ogdensburg Journal reporterJohn McFadden, WDT editorial pageSue Mende, WDT Canton reporterPaul Mitchell, St. Lawrence County Plaindealereditorheaded to a joint assignment atYokota Air Force Base, Japan,and later a move to Centreville,Va. For the past 12 years Ihave worked as a teacher aideat Stone Middle School in Centreville.I have been a careerday speaker at our school severalyears and tell our studentsabout how my liberal arts educationat JCC and St. LawrenceUniversity prepared me for twodifferent but equally rewardingcareers -- and yes, the studentslove to hear about me drivingthat tank.Today’s WDT and NNY newspapers staffersIt’s Halloween Party Time!Centerpieces will never be the same! A beautiful array of cinnamon chocolate dipped applestopped with a special cinnamon blend, pineapple daisies, half of the strawberries dipped in gourmetchocolate, honeydew, cantaloupe, grapes and fresh orange slices presented in a keepsake metalcenterpiece container. A colorful addition to any table. Available in three sizes. Container may var y.Visit us at:Target Plaza21856 Towne Ctr. DriveWatertown, NY 13601315-788-4201EdibleArrangements.comFruit Festival ® • All stores open 7 days a week©2011 Edible Arrangements, LLC. Containers may vary. Delivery not available in all areas. Available in a variety of sizes.Franchises available; call 1-888-727-4258 or visit eafranchise.com.Mike Mittelstadt, WDT copy editorJonathan Monfiletto, Malone Telegram reporterAmanda Morrison, WDT photographerDan Mount, WDT sportsJamie Munks, WDT reporterSarah Nichols, WDT news clerkFrancesca Olsen, WDT copy editorPatience O’Riley, WDT copy editorRick Pominville, WDT web site content managerFrancis Pound, WDT editorial pageMaggie Reed, WDT sportsChris Robbins, Ogdensburg Journal reporterTrudy Ross, Malone Telegram editorial assistantJeff Savitskie, St. Lawrence County editorDave Shampine, WDT reporterWendy Sharpe, WDT Canton office assistantDave Shea, Ogdensburg Journal sports editorLeslie Sheldon, WDT sportsReena Singh, Carthage Republican TribunereporterMike Smith, WDT website technicianJustin Sorensen, WDT photographerJosh St. Croix, WDT sportsAlain St. Pierre, Massena Daily Courier-Observersports editorDiana Staie, WDT copy editorSteve Virkler, WDT Lowville reporterJohn Turcotte, St. Lawrence Plaindealer,sportsTom Wehrhahn, WDT copy editorPerry White, WDT city editorDaniel Woolfolk, WDT reporterFrom our 4th generation family business to your4th generation family business:Congratulations andContinued SuccessScott & Denise Gray and staff
C M Y KWATERTOWN DAILY TIMESThursday, September 22, 2011 E7Johnson family added Sunday paper, more products to holdings...From E4The company was purchasinga new press, one whichwould double the size of thedaily paper, and there was noroom in the old building. JohnJohnson in the summer of 1959made the decision which hadbeen waiting 15 years -- to constructa new office.On April 10, 1961, the firstissue of the Watertown DailyTimes to run off the press in itsnew home appeared in print.The company had partiallymoved into its new building,but was still occupying the familiarground on Arcade Street.“There is nothing so encumberedwith trivia as living in thesame building for 100 years,”the Times editorialized monthslater. “This is one of the wonderfulthings about change.If one becomes so old that hecannot accommodate change,then he might as well retire andprotest privately and publicly,leading a movement againstchange.”Incidental to the change ofscenery was a gradual changein faces. The old guard was givingway to new blood. Alreadygone were Mr. Landon, whodied in 1954, and Mr. Pearson,whose passing was mourned inJanuary 1956.Dave Lane, at the age of 85,began in 1965 a 14-year stringof newsroom retirements. Littlemore than a year after he retired,he died. A quiet bachelorwho in earlier years had supportedhis mother, Mr. Lanewas an author in local historywho, “despite advanced age, ...could recall vividly New Yorkhistory events, dates, names,incidents, with complete accuracyand detail,” the Timessaid. “He was tireless in diggingup details from the newspaperfiles and the library for his historicalwritings.”An editorial also noted,“Lawyers held great respect forhis accuracy in reporting courtproceedings and his thoroughknowledge of law.”More retirements followedin the 1970s, with four comingin December 1971: city editorKimball, telegraph editor Lennon,reporter Brior and sportseditor Jack Case.Mr. Case, the Times said inmourning his death less thantwo years later, “was a hardworker, prodigiously energeticnight and day, Sundays andholidays. All this industry didnot cut his life short. He madehis three score and ten. Hemight have lived longer hadhe not retired as a newspaperman.”Mr. Moffett, Frank Augustineand the Pepp brothers remainedlong enough to blendin with the new help for thenew city editor, 20-year veteranG. Robert Farmer. DominicPepp, who gave 43 years to theTimes as general assignmentMark A. SmithGEICO Field Representative1063 Arsenal Street, Watertown, NY 13601Telephone: 315-221-2886 Fax: 315-755-2896John B. Johnson cranks up the press for the first Sunday edition of the Times in September 1986 as hiswife, Catherine, and their sons, Harold, left, and John, watch.reporter, left in June 1978. Mr.Augustine was the last of thegroup to retire, leaving in 1979.With Gordon Bryant as managingeditor, “Bobby” Farmerhad a team consisting of Mr.Emory as Washington correspondent,John Johnson’sson, John B. Johnson Jr., anda younger generation in thepersons of Donald E. Lawton,Marsha J. Davis, Larry P. Cole,A. Charles Haeffner IV, MaryLu West, John A. O’Donnell,Nicholas J. Lyman and John R.Coston.Today’s holdovers from theFarmer era include executiveeditor Bert Gault, Gerald C. Koepsell,Francis A. Pound, JohnP. Day, Patience Carter O’Rileyand David C. Shampine.Like his father, John JohnsonJr. attended Phillips ExeterAcademy, graduating in 1962.Beginning in 1959 while in highschool, and continuing intohis college years at VanderbiltUniversity and ColumbiaUniversity schools of businessand journalism, he served as asummer reporter at the Times.Upon completion of his graduatestudies in 1968, he wasnamed a general executive ofthe Brockway Company, andwas elevated in 1973 to managingeditor.The new managing editor,thoroughly involving himselfin all aspects of the business,drew his father’s written salutewhen the newspaper publishedon July 3, 1976, a bicentennialedition, compiled by featureseditor Haeffner.“In the last 15 years,” thepublisher wrote, “the newspaperhas made changes whichwere unthinkable to the printerwho moved from Arcade toWashington Street.” Describinga newly acquired computersystem - a system which itselfhas since given way to a successionof newer generationcomputers - Mr. Johnson said“It was conceived four yearsago by John B. Johnson Jr. Heworked with electronics specialistsand engineers of theInternational Business MachinesCompany in developinga system, relatively simple ascontrasted with methods elsewhere,for handling the 400,000words that are transmittedeach 24 hours to this newspaperoffice.”The antique linotype machineswere cast aside, andtheir operators were trained fordifferent jobs. Solid lead plates,on which type was set for thevarious pages, were now useless.News from the wire servicesno longer arrived on teletypemachines, but was instead feddirectly into computer storagediscs. Reporters, meanwhile,set aside their typewriters andbecame acquainted with videoNorth Country Lock and KeyWith 26 years of experience,would like to congratulatethe Watertown Daily Timesfor their 150 years ofkeeping the North Countrywell informed.Providing fast, friendly, professional mobilelocksmith services throughoutJefferson County and surrounding areas.Chris Wells, CRLNorth Country Lock & Key • 315-786-7233Quality locks, working properly... because good security is not just a state of minddisplay terminals.Modernization of the WatertownDaily Times also broughton a new name. The BrockwayCompany, as the parent firmhad been known since March1892, became, in December1977, the Johnson NewspaperCorporation.“The new name of thecorporation acknowledgesthe ownership which started45 years ago when thelate Harold B. Johnson tookover as editor and publisherand owner,” the newspaperexplained.“There are more Johnsonsnow than there were then, sothe association of the namewith the enterprise ought toprovide an identification thatnot only has currency by alsobears the expectation of longevity.”The change came while thecompany was in the midst ofa legal battle over a FederalCommunication Commissiondivestiture order which, whenaccomplished in late 1981, hadresulted in the sale of the company’stelevision and radioholdings.“The ownership which oncewas considered in the interestof public service was torturedinto meaning a monopoly ofopinion and the public serviceof news,” the newspaper satirized.Years later, too late for JohnsonNewspaper Corp., the government’srule was rescinded.Management responded tothe divestiture by broadeningits holdings in the newsprintfield. The initial expansion occurredin 1981, when JohnsonNewspaper Corp. purchasedthe Batavia Daily News inWestern New York.In September 1983, WesternNew York Offset Press in Lancaster,the printer of advertisingcirculars and newspapers,came into the Johnson fold.Nearly a year later, the corporationpurchased CarthageCommunity Press Inc. andcontinued operation of thatcompany’s three publications:the Carthage Republican-Tribune,the North Country Courierand the Fort Drum Sentinel.Through its first 125 years,the Watertown Daily Timesserved the north country asan evening paper. It beganbreaking from that traditionon March 15, 1986, when theSaturday issue became a morningpaper. The next step camesix months later when, on Sept.28, the first Sunday issue of theWatertown Daily Times waspublished.The only other WatertownTimes morning issue of recordhad been on Thanksgiving Day1980, a result of flooding in thepress room that had preventedpublication of a paper the previousday.To achieve the ability toput out a larger paper withcolor reproductions, theTimes in 1987 installeda seven-unit full-colorM.A.N.-Roland Press.During 1987, the Times employedprobably its largesteverfull-time news-gatheringforce. The reporting staffswelled to 25, including 11 correspondents,to accommodatethe demands of a seven-dayoperation. Complementing thestaff were 12 copy editors, sevensports writers, two editorialwriters, five photographers andthree news clerks.Johnson Newspaper Corp.resumed expansion in 1988when it acquired the MaloneEvening Telegram. A year later,the Catskill Daily Mail andthe Greene County News wereadded. The Lowville Journal& Republican was added in1990, and in 1997, the corporationmade itself Northern NewYork’s largest distributor ofprint news with the purchase of10 newspapers from the formerPark Newspapers, covering St.Lawrence and Columbia counties.John B. Johnson, who washonored as Watertown’s citizenof the year with the 1959Israel A. Shapiro Award, maintainedan active presence at theWatertown Daily Times even ashis age advanced into his early80s.A champion of higher education,public libraries, municipalpower, industrial development,Fort Drum expansion,good government and the public’sright to a free press, he diedon May 2, 2001, at his homefollowing an illness of severalmonths. He was 84.“Fort Drum’s FinestTown Home Community”Right outside Ft. Drum315-629-5069EagleRidgeVillage.com
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Thursday, September 22, 2011 - Watertown Daily Times

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