My farewell to the Rome Observer

It was Valentines Day earlier this year. My 86-year-old mother had invited my family and I for a belated birthday party, in my honor, at her home. We had been there for just about an hour when the telephone rang. Puzzled by the conversation, she handed the phone to me and said it was the Rome Police.

At that moment my life changed forever. They asked me to come home because there had been a fire. We lost our home, our pets, and everything that, until then, we thought was important.

We had lost my father a year before the fire, which was only a couple of months after I had found myself laying flat on my broken back, after falling from a rooftop, and I had decided I needed the “security” of a “real job” if I were to recover both physically and financially.

I became managing editor of the Rome Observer. Many of you may know that I am also an entrepreneur of sorts, earning a small amount of income in my attempt to market Sano’s sauce and spice mixes.

It’s been a difficult couple of years, but I am hoping that the myth of “bad things come in three’s” will come true for me, as these three tragic events have really taken a toll.

Like everyone else whose livelihood is linked to the newspaper industry, “difficult” politely describes an environment of dwindling subscribers, fewer advertisers and a scramble to re-invent, and profit from, reporting the news.

Readers have noticed some of the changes at the Rome Observer, including our effort to build a popular website that our parent company, the Journal Register, has decided is the key to their future success.

I say “their” future success because, for me, this is my last week on the job. There comes a time when you start adding up all the pluses and minuses of your life, and this job falls in the minus column as I am faced with cold weather, coming soon, and still no home for my family to live in.

We had no insurance for our fire-damaged home, due to circumstances beyond our control, and have spent the last several months trying to work on the massive repair and renovation project. My job, as managing editor for the Rome Observer, requires a time commitment of at least 50 hours per week. When you do the math, it leaves little time to get done all that needs to be done to return my family to our home.

That fact, combined with a work environment so vastly different from the “old days” of journalism, makes it time for me to move on.

Tim Birnie, owner of Birnie Bus Service, recently took a couple of minutes to hear my problems and, without hesitation, literally opened the door to his human resources office and asked them to “get (me) a job.”

While he may believe this was not a big deal, that job frees up the time I need to rebuild my home, still afford to eat, and even return to marketing my sauce and spices. Birnie used to be my elementary school teacher, and I fondly recall his solicitation of classroom participation with a pointed finger and the statement “the evil finger points to…(whomever)”. Who would have imagined that now I would need his entire hand — a hand up, not a handout.

While there is nothing wrong with handouts, on occasion, and my family and I are sincerely grateful for the thousands of dollars we have received to help rebuild our home, we have tried to avoid asking for more. Scott Smith, owner of Scotty’s Hot Dogs and a cousin to my wife, has been relentless in his attempts to convince us otherwise.

At a recent family reunion, he once again offered up his “Funland Park” to host a benefit and raise money to help us in our efforts. Weighing our own pride against the needs of our family and his sincere desire to help, we have gratefully accepted, and all of you are invited. The benefit will be Saturday, Sept. 25, from 3 to 9 p.m.

It will be more like a big party, with food, fun (Scotty will have all the kid’s stuff open and even the dunking booth, where many of you will have the opportunity to send me under water in late September…brrrrrrr), a band (Suns of the Empire) and a cash bar. Tickets are $15 each, or two for $25, and can be purchased by calling 315-271-7304 or visiting our website at www.firebenefit.com.

You can’t even go out to dinner for that price anymore, let alone be entertained by a band and watch me get “dunked”.

As I say goodbye to my wonderful Rome Observer colleagues, I fear a community without the needed checks and balances of local newspapers. I encourage all of you to support these local news organizations, and wish them well in their transformation. We need them now as much as we ever have, if not more.

Thank you, again, and goodbye, for now.