All in good journalism

You know, there are two groups that rarely get mentioned when newspapers do their anniversary issues: the sales and business staffs. And when I think about people who had big impacts on what the RN&R is today, they’ve had some of the biggest. I think back to the advertising sales people who worked here, and they were some of the biggest supporters of the editorial content of this newspaper. I mean, hell, if there weren’t ads in the paper, there wouldn’t be a paper. And if there weren’t ad people to sell them, I would have had a lot fewer hangovers over the years.

Yes, there was the occasional salesperson who could never quite understand that our editorial content is not for sale, but they were few and far between. Yes, there was the occasional salesperson or general manager who didn’t always support our sometimes controversial editorial content; oddly, I miss even some of them.

But to the Catherine Greenspans, Dixie Hardings, Jennifer Northcutts, Alex Panschars and Bob Grimms out there, to the Ina Wilsons, Vicki Staffords and Brendan McIlravys, and to all the folks I don’t have room to list, thanks for your efforts. Most of all, thanks to the other members of the family who are currently providing this boat’s power, Dawn Archie-Johansen, Ann Armbruster, Corrin Keck, Mark Martens, Lori Lacey, Karen Brooke and Daphne Menden. And most of all, to John Murphy.

Along other lines, as I drove in Monday morning, the news came over the radio that Hunter S. Thompson had offed himself. I was a big fan of Thompson, and there is no way I’d ever have become a journalist without his influence. He’ll be missed.

Finally, we’re having a birthday party on Saturday, Feb. 26, at the Reno Hilton. It starts at 8 p.m. and the cost is $13 at the door. I don’t have to decide whether I’ll raise a glass to Thompson and other bygone friends. I just have to decide what I’m going to wear.