In the summer of 1997, I found myself perusing help wanted ads in the Columbus Dispatch. Occasionally I did that out of idle curiosity, just to see what kinds of jobs were out there. I had no desire or need to apply for one. Till then.
The previous December the Michigan-based publication I wrote for − my primary source of income − pulled up stakes and abandoned the Columbus market. The publisher gave no warning. Just before the printing presses started to roll, management pulled the editorial cartoon and replaced it with a notification that this would be the final issue.
Their way of wishing the staff a merry Christmas.
Within six months, I ran out of money and my then-wife had run out of patience. So I applied for a job advertised in the Dispatch − a general assignment reporter for the Ashland Times-Gazette. Much to my surprise, the Times-Gazette hired me. I was to report to work July 8, the day after Ashland’s 1997 BalloonFest.
Marriage with Ashland Times-Gazette gets off to rocky start
Even more surprising is that, 28 years later, I’m still writing for the Times-Gazette. In my checkered career, I’ve had jobs that didn’t last 28 minutes.
As you might have guessed, this is one of those columns where I reflect on the circumstances that brought me to this point.
At first, my relationship with the Times-Gazette seemed to be a marriage made in hell. Or whatever level of purgatory you subscribe to. Having come from a liberal-leaning publication in the big city to a conservative-owned daily in small-town America took a lot of adjustment. For everyone involved.
It didn’t help that in Columbus I’d been the cock of the walk. My writing and other shenanigans attracted a following. Regional fame didn’t quite pay the bills, but it had its perks. I rarely had to buy my own drinks.
One year I ran as a write-in candidate for mayor of Columbus. Surprisingly, I received enough votes to carry my precinct in Clintonville, the neighborhood where I lived.
Learning to leave the ‘attitude’ behind
So I came to Ashland with an attitude. And was quickly disabused of it.
The Dix family, who owned the paper at the time, wasn’t paying me to write sarcastic columns and milk the locals for free beers. They made it clear I was there to report Ashland County news fairly and accurately.
Which didn’t set well with certain local government officials. They were used to dictating to reporters what they should write and, more importantly, what they shouldn’t. I suspect that’s why Times-Gazette management hired me − as a reality check for some of the good ol’ boys who’d gotten too big for their britches.
Which worked out well because, in my big-city world, I’d gotten too big for mine. In effect, we all got our just desserts − a healthy serving of humble pie.
Working for a small market daily, you wear many hats. Your beat goes beyond covering local government, business, education or criminal justice. You’re expected to write feature stories about everything imaginable and personality profiles of everyone from the shakers and movers to the local character who takes it upon himself to sweep the downtown sidewalks.
Print journalism’s biggest failure was neglecting the latter. We simply didn’t do enough stories about common folk.
The Mohican was the real draw
I had an ulterior motive for coming to work for the Times-Gazette, the Mohican River.
I’ve often said I came to the Mohican in 1980 to canoe and never left. Technically, that isn’t true. While I kept coming back and spent as much time as possible canoeing and camping on the Mohican, I lived in Cleveland and later Columbus for 17 of those years. But my heart was always here.
The rest of me came along after taking the job with the Times-Gazette and ultimately moving to neighboring Richland County. I remained on staff till retiring in 2013 and continued writing and doing photography freelance. Much of my post-retirement writing involved weekly outdoors columns, primarily focusing on the Mohican.
So here I am, 28 years later, still wet behind the ears. And loving it.
This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: Thank the Mohican for finding him a 28-year niche in small-town jouralism
Reporting by Irv Oslin/Special to Ashland Times-Gazette / Ashland Times Gazette
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