Weekend Roundup

Pastor Hungler died on Wednesday. Here's an obituary I did on him. It's the first obit that I've ever written. I asked that in lieu of pay they make sure that it gets printed. They've cut it pretty good, but it's not bad. Here's a bit they cut:

By his own admission, he never did anything in a hurry. On July 28, 2001, he married Diane Beckham at age 53. “I told him, ‘you can’t say you weren’t in a hurry’, you have to say you waited that long for the right woman,’” joked Jim O’Neill of O’Neill’s Barber Shop in Ft. Thomas.

O’Neill cut Pastor Hungler’s hair since 1970 and is a parishioner at Prince of Peace. “He enjoyed being married, but would sometimes ask why women do what they do. I just called him a 53 year old “rookie”,” said O’Neil. “I’ve cut his hair 216 times since I started keeping records in 1980. He was a good friend. He’s has two appointments scheduled still and I’m not canceling either one of them.”

I also did this article on a fatherhood class that the city of Covington is sponsoring for their east side neighborhood. The neighborhood is poor. Really poor. I'm glad they're doing something, but....if you can't get a father be involved in a kids life everyday how are you going to get them to attend a once a week 3 hour class for 8 weeks? I asked this question and they only response I got was that a free meal was offered to get them to come and that they would love it so much that they'll keep coming back. I hope so but am not confident. At least they're trying.

There was some bad news of the writing front. I recently gave up a corporate writing job because it just wasn't paying that much, it was boring work and I'd rather spent time writing for the Enquirer and Challenger. Half my problem is gone. On Saturday night I got this e-mail:

Freelance writers:

It is with sadness that I compose and send this letter, informing you that
the Sunday, February 19 issue of The Sunday Challenger is the final edition
that will be printed. Owners Bill Butler and Donald Then have decided, after
considering the long-term chances of reaching profitability or even breaking
even, that neither is likely to occur in the foreseeable future with the
intensely competitive environment that has resulted from the merger of the
Enquirer and the Community Recorder newspapers.

This announcement will be made in the Sunday morning editions of the
Challenger, some of which will be on the streets in vending boxes late
Saturday evening. This e-mail is timed to go out late Saturday evening in
the hopes that you will receive it and receive this notification before
reading it in the Sunday morning edition and being surprised.

I want to thank all of you with my most sincere and deep gratitude for your
efforts and contributions to the editorial success of the Challenger. And we
were an editorial success without question. If we have an opportunity to
work together again in some other capacity, venue or publication, it would
be my extreme pleasure to do so.

Importantly, Don asked me to let you all know that all outstanding invoices
will be paid in full. I will be here in the Challenger offices for one more
week, performing some clean-up tasks, as will business manager Steve Jung.
Let me or him know about any unpaid invoices so that we can ensure that they
are taken care of.

Again, it has been my true pleasure working with all of you. Thank you so
much for the hard work you have done for me and for The Sunday Challenger.

Best always,

Tom Mitsoff
Editor
The Sunday Challenger / ChallengerNKY.com
No. Kentucky's Fastest Growing Sunday Newspaper*
100 E. RiverCenter Blvd., Suite 1100
Covington, KY 41011

Here's the Enquirer reporting on it. So, that job is done. Kaput. Recently Moonbatty asked me how many articles I written. I've kept a list of them here. The Challenger seemed like my "home paper" in a way, I'm a little sad. Also it did a good job of covering local issues. Sometimes Northern Kentucky gets underserved by the Cincinnati media, but they're no more and luckily I got an in with the Enquirer. Last Wednesday I had lunch with one of my editors and she gave me some good feedback so I think I'll be with them for a while.

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