If you are reading this on Thursday, Nov. 5 then … today is my seventh anniversary here at the Forks Forum! If you are reading this on any other day …then just keep reading.
So it was seven years ago on Nov. 5, 2013, that I came to be the editor of my hometown newspaper. While prior to that I had written a column for the Peninsula Daily News, I knew nothing about being an editor. I will always be thankful to John Brewer for letting me learn on the job, it has really been a great experience which I never dreamed of as a possibility.
And to Chris Cook ….wherever you are …I think he is in Hawaii …I think I will exceed your prediction of only lasting seven years … He had told me that seven years is usually long enough to make enough people mad that an editor will need to move on!
So in other news … this week when I went to do the ‘Salute to Veterans’ section, that I have done for the past six years, to honor Veterans Day, I went to our server … and everything was GONE! Apparently, our server had experienced some sort of hacking episode in August and all 143 photos and bios were nowhere to be found.
So on Friday, I searched and searched my computer to see if there was any way I could rebuild the photos and text, I was able to find some of what I needed but many photos were not there. So defeated, I let my co-worker in Sequim know that there just was just not enough time to get them all re-entered.
So over the weekend it really bothered me to not thank our Veterans … so I worked Sunday to prepare other items for this week and on Monday I began the task of putting things back together. Thanks to Mary Field in Sequim for her hard work in getting the pages ready and also putting it all on a thumb drive now!
I love that Forks Forum readers have learned that I love our local history and have brought me “things” over the last seven years. This past week Darel Maxfield was cleaning at the Masonic Lodge and found an old recorder. In playing it he discovered that it was a recording of Gordon Otos broadcasting on 1490 KVAC sometime during the Johnson administration. This week I hope to listen to it and transfer it to digital format.
I will also mention here that if any of you ever find any newspapers from 1967 to 1975 please do not throw them out! While I have most archives for the Forks Forum here at my office, the newspapers saved from that timeframe are really spotty, and many are cut up and missing articles.
Thanks to Connie Birley for recently bringing me a Forks Forum from June 1955!
Another great thing about this job is that I get to attend some fun events. Last week it was amazing to get to be present at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the opening of the Spruce Railroad section of the Olympic Discovery Trail. It was a beautiful fall day and an amazing bit of history has been brought back that we all can soon experience.
A huge thanks to all the businesses and others who took part in the downtown trick or treating last Saturday …good weather didn’t hurt either.
I also want to acknowledge the passing of longtime businessman Ron Johanson. Yesterday while looking through old archives I came across a news item foretelling the opening of Ron’s Gull. Thanks to Ron for contributing to the Forks economy, providing jobs, and just being a really nice guy! He will be missed.
A few months after I got this job a friend of mine said to me …”Your job must be awful, it’s just like school!” and I said, “My job is wonderful because it is just like school!”
I am looking forward to year eight!
Christi Baron, Editor
