Boca Raton News, RIP

I just got the news that the Boca Raton News, the paper where I got my start in journalism, is printing its last issue tomorrow. This is the third publication for which I've worked that has either shut down or experienced major financial problems. Journalism is a tough business to be in, but our society needs it as much as ever.

I had two stints at the BRN, which I'm sad to see go. One was as a part-timer maintaining the paper's "morgue," or clip file, while I attended Boca Raton High School. It was then that I met Jim Driscoll, the editor (and eventually had the privilege of taking his daughter Amy to the prom).

The second was after I graduated from the University of Florida in 1985 and joined the newspaper's staff briefly as a copy editor. What I most remember was going out to the parking lot with the weather radio (which had perennially poor reception) and trying to get the next day's forecast--how times have changed!

Then there was the time a hurricane was expected to come through (was it David?) and the staff was told that we had to be at our posts to report the news. All I could think of was how easily our parking lot flooded during normal south Florida rainstorms; I figured we would be swept away during a hurricane. Blessedly, the storm alighted elsewhere.

I was encouraged by so many outstanding people, among them: Grady Cooper, my professional, soft-spoken, and understanding boss who took me off horoscope duty; Skip Sheffield, who had an excellent band called the Sheffield Brothers; Dorothy Brown, who allowed me to rename the religion column; Vin Mannix, who brought bravado and fun to the sports department; Sandy Wesley, who was ever kind and helpful; Bill Tarrant and Kate McClare, who were outstanding reporters; Wayne Ezell, who listened to my impassioned complaints about the paper's coverage of abortion and then actually took action; and John Coley, a terrific photographer who allowed me to take pictures from the sideline of a Fort Lauderdale Strikers soccer game. Sadly, none of my pictures (taken by my trusty AE-1) were publishable, but I had a great time, anyway.

I learned many things at the News (which some detractors called the Snooze), one of which was the realization that newspapers were not my place of calling. But it was an excellent place to get started in journalism, and Boca Raton will be worse off for its absence.