Home > Our Man Downtown > Archives > 2009 > July > 03 > Entry
Losing the press room
It’s the Friday night of an Independence Day weekend and I’m working the cops beat. It’s hot out there still after a 100-degree day, and the crooks have been busy, robbing a check-cashing store owner and an ice cream man.
It’s cool and quiet here in our cavernous newsroom, where I am part of a holiday skeleton crew. But I’m thinking about the ink-stained crew that will be running at full tilt about the time I’m going to bed in a couple of hours. The pressroom will be rolling out hundreds of pages a minute on an enormous three-story machine, producing 35,000 copies of tomorrow’s newspaper — 35,000 precision-crafted, highly perishable products.
The pressroom guys will be history after July 13, when we start having our paper printed in Austin. I will miss them, though I don’t know many of their names. In the 12 years I’ve worked here, I’ve gone to bed every night knowing they’d get the paper out, as sure as my own lungs would continue to pump and my heart would beat. Through power outages and equipment failures and contested presidential elections, they’d get the job done.
Necessary as it may be in these economic times, losing the pressroom feels like an amputation. For more than a century, it’s been the brawny physical side of this newspaper: They turned mere “content,” that is, information, into a physical thing you could clip and roll up and spill coffee on. By the same token, I can tell people I don’t just work at an office: The Trib is also a factory, full of craftsmen who have passed down their trade over generations. What they do looks like magic to me when the spindles are rolling and the papers are flying off the press.
No matter what our digital future may look like, the printing trade will survive in some form. Even horseshoe-making survived the automobile. But losses like this are painful, not only for those who have to find new careers but for the rest of us who have taken pride in our made-in-Waco newspaper.
Working at a newspaper these days is all about keeping hope alive, hope that the public’s desire to be enlightened about their will continue to support those of us who want to write, report and assemble news. That’s what I keep telling myself as I cross off the vacant cubicles on the seating chart like a tic-tac-toe board, and as I imagine half this huge building sitting empty.
Perhaps this crisis in the newspaper industry is only the birth pang of journalism’s nimble and more responsive future. But I’m proud to have been part of journalism’s grubby, ink-stained past. So long, guys.
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By matthew j
July 4, 2009 9:00 AM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
Your blogs are super boring. And whats with your picture? Who do you think you are, Dick Tracy?!
Who cares where the paper is printed get a real scoop
By Truth Be Told
July 4, 2009 9:08 AM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
Couple of questions JB…
When the equipment was said to have broken the other day and required the paper to be printed in Austin, you sure that wasn’t just a test run for feasibility and someone flipped the off switch?
Will the Trib keep the press equipment in case the Trib and American Statesman aren’t sold to the same entity?
By bear78
July 4, 2009 9:13 AM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
matthew j: Have a heart, man. Of 47 employees losing their jobs, one could be YOUR family member, friend or neighbor. How do you think they will fare in finding another job in this economy? For Waco’s economy to lose 47 good paying jobs, we should all care where the paper is printed. For a newspaper person, having the paper printed at home is a matter of pride.
As for JB, if you think he’s boring, read something else. Though I may not always agree with him, he’s a great writer who typically has something interesting or insightful to say.
By Trib Regular
July 4, 2009 9:29 AM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
So don’t read his stuff Matthew. Is that so hard? Dolt!
By Pressroom Guy
July 4, 2009 1:58 PM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
It is a sad day for the Waco Trib and the ones that toiled so many years there to make the best product that we could. It is a sad that the owners have decided to print the paper in Austin. Thanks JB for a great article. At least there is one person at the Trib that really cares about what has happened. Inside I hope this Austin adventure for them is a bust. But if they do decide to fire up the local press again there will be no one left that will know how to run this press and to make this press work. I think that they have shot themselves in the foot this time. Good luck Waco, I am off to try and find another job.
By Remember Me
July 4, 2009 3:06 PM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
I enjoy J.B.’s articles. They provide a unique look at areas of Waco that I don’t always have time to see. His articles make me slow down and take time to enjoy life. As for the Press Room closing, I can relate to that as my daddy’s occupation was a line-o-type operator at a newspaper. I doubt if there are many of us left who remember what that is.
By leslie
July 4, 2009 6:41 PM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
MATTHEW J….. I agree with Trib Regular; dude, if you dont like it, dont frickin’ read it. wouldnt that be better than reading it anyway, gettin’ your panties all jumbled up, and having to say something stupid? this only makes you look ignorant…seriously.
By dee
July 4, 2009 9:22 PM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
I’LL BE ENDING MY SUBSCRIPTION AS OF 7-31, WHY PAY FOR SOMETHING WHEN A COMPANY WILL NOT SUPPORT THE LOCALS!!!
By Sunny
July 5, 2009 8:38 AM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
I enjoy your column JB, and I think your pic is cool. Always one butthead in the bunch though! It’s sad the the staff will be losing jobs and the paper will now come out of Austin. I don’t see how it is financially feasible to do so. Still have the same expenses or more(wages are higher in Austin), transporting the paper to Waco, seems like a shot in the foot to me!
But I guess there may be logic somewhere in the mess. shrug
By brent
July 5, 2009 11:04 AM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
Another case of corporate greed, it all boils down to that dollar,forget about the blue collar employee, the suits have to save themselves, and cut costs, why don’t they ask for a bailout or merger I’m sure the goverment will give them the money They have no problem spending my money bailing out the suits that put the company in that situation in the first place, every time a company merges you loose employees. ITS TIME TO TAKE BACK AMERICA, and so if I’m elected I will……..Thats another story.
By Truth Be Told
July 5, 2009 11:28 AM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
If elected leaders have this attitude, why should we worry about the future of the industry…
Steve Blow/DallasMN Columnist- I don’t expect the rest of the world to be quite so troubled as I am by the decline of newspapers. But neither do I expect our troubles to be cause for cheering.
At a recent candidates forum for upcoming Mesquite elections, something was said about current economic troubles, including the recent layoffs at this newspaper. And I’m told that the mention of our layoffs prompted Mesquite Mayor John Monaco to raise his hands in a little silent cheer.
Isn’t that special?
I have a call in to Mayor Monaco to ask about that. I’m sure his explanation can’t be as simple as recent unflattering stories here about council members taking expense-paid trips to New York.
UPDATE: Mayor Monaco returned my call. And as I suspected, the New York stories were behind his cheer at our misfortune.
“Oh, yeah. They have really been knocking my city. And while I don’t take it personally, I do take it very seriously when you knock my city,” he said.
“They ignore all the good things that go on here and go overboard with this. The stories went on and on for three weeks. What’s that about? We got more print than we’ve gotten in five years.”
By Truth Be Told
July 5, 2009 11:55 AM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
This is the story by the Dallas Morning News and sounds reasonable to be reported a local newspaper. Perhaps Mayor Monaco and the others disagree…
A flawed travel policy and lax enforcement allowed some Mesquite city council members and employees to take lavish trips to New York City costing taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars, an internal city review has found.
Findings of the review were released Tuesday and have resulted in current and former city officials paying back more than $70,000 for expenses that violated city policy prohibiting, among other things, paying for the travel of relatives.
“Quite frankly, we dropped the ball,” said City Manager Ted Barron.
“We have determined that while the city had a travel policy, there was no individual or department charged to enforce it for city council travel,” he said. “That situation has been fixed.”
The review also noted that the city has “not found any evidence of wrongdoing in this matter.”
Barron said that the city has revamped its travel policy to make sure the city budget director not only plans all travel, but also reviews all travel expenses to find any non-business related items.
The cost of the trips and the travel policy flaws came to light after the Securities and Exchange Commission announced that RBC Capital Markets Corp., the city’s longtime financial adviser, had paid a $125,000 fine to settle charges related to its practices during the trips that Mesquite officials went on in 2004 and 2005.
The SEC said RBC had, with the knowledge of certain city officials, included the trips’ expenses — more than $75,000 — as part of the cost of issuing the city’s bonds.
The expenses included luxury hotel accommodations, Broadway show tickets, private car service and meals at upscale restaurants. As the city began the review of all travel from 2004 to the present, city officials said anyone found to owe the city money would be expected to reimburse the city for any expenses that violated city policy.
Among those on those trips were former Mayor Mike Anderson, current council members Shirley Roberts and Dennis Tarpley, and Barron.
On Tuesday, city officials released copies of receipts showing travel reimbursements Mesquite has received. Anderson has now paid back $18,625, Roberts $13,224, council member Tarpley, $9,708, and former council member John Heiman Jr., $11,001. Barron paid back $5,416.
Others who also have had to reimburse the city for travel expenses from 2004 to the present include current Mayor John Monaco, $2,014; council member Stan Pickett, $4,733; former council member David Paschall, $5,646; and finance director Don Simons, $2,893.
Barron emphasized that the flaw was with the system, and declined to say any of the people on the trips were at fault.
Barron said one of the factors that resulted in the New York trips expenses was that the city had “outsourced” its travel planning to RBC, its financial adviser.
“There was no one to take out those non-business-related expenses,” Barron said. “We have now recovered all non-business-related expenses. These are good people and they wanted to do the right thing.”
Sound legit to you? This is a perfect example why we should ensure the continuation of the local newspaper industry and it deserves our support.
By bear78
July 5, 2009 1:00 PM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
dee: And how does dropping your Trib subscription “support the locals” or the newspaper? Think about it.
By John
July 5, 2009 1:38 PM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
I am so glad that News Papers and the “filter” they represent are going the way of the T-REX. Americans deserve more and have been short changed for many years by the print media. Celebrate it !
ji
By Spider Man
July 5, 2009 7:14 PM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
Great article, J.B. Thanks for your reminding us how these hard-working individuals have played a part in our lives by bringing us the news that we read with our morning coffee.
By El Diablo
July 6, 2009 11:36 AM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
What if the Austin paper and the Waco paper end up with different owners?
Also, is there anything to the rumor that Clifton Robinson is looking to buy the Waco paper?
Inquiring minds would like to know. Beer-infused minds would, too.
By archivist
July 6, 2009 11:39 AM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
I hope someone has the forethought to document the working press room before it goes silent. Video, interviews, the whole enchilada. Maybe a Baylor history dept project or something. Maybe KWBU. The clock’s ticking…
By Dale
July 6, 2009 12:02 PM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
I’m sorry the presses are being stopped. It is the first time that room will be silent for more than a day or two. Even during the 53 tornado the presses were still rolling.
I can’t help it, but I keep getting the strangest feeling that the Waco Tribune-Herald and the Austin American-Statesman are going be bid on by Hearst Newspapers. I am probably wrong. It is just a feeling.
By oaks
July 6, 2009 3:32 PM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
this should of happened at least 10 years we don’t get massive amounts of paper from waco forrest and ink from oil reserves so it makes since to print everything in a single CenTX location, also NYtimes has indicated they may be entirely digital by next decade, we should be for anything that doesnt waste precious limited resources
By Dale
July 6, 2009 11:06 PM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
Is there a “new geography” out there now? According to my “Ye Olde” Definition, Central Texas starts at Hillsboro and ends at Salado. North Central Texas starts at the Hillsboro split and ends in DFW. South Central Texas starts at Georgetown and ends at San Marocs.
You are not really saving any trees or ink either. You are just adding the cost of gas to truck it up here. What surprised me was the paid circulation is reported as 35,000. When I was throwing a paper route back in 1965, the paid circulation was about 75,000 to 125,000.
Anyway, to me it boils down to a local enterprise outsourcing local jobs (to Austin no less) which have adversely affected local people and their families. When things reach that point, this is what I consider a new low in American industry. Our money that goes to Austin, Dallas, and beyond never returns home. It is lost forever. That spells DECLINE because you can’t get new money in, yet the money here leaves and never returns.
Don’t be surprised when the subscription rates go up within a year or so because of the “cost of printing”.
By Lennie
July 7, 2009 7:09 AM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
Everyone has an answer. Remember critics, you walk only in your shoes. It sounds like Bear78 is the only one out there with a properly operating brain. Wouldn’t it be interesting to watch some of you naysayers direct a multimillion dollar company? If you need the definition for naysayer, look it up. Good job JB.
By dee
July 7, 2009 8:57 AM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
bear78, ever heard of keeping the money in waco? printing a paper in austin, paying an autin employee, where they will more then likely spend their money is not supporting your locals. so yes i will stop my subscription and if i want to read whats in the paper i will go online, as WE are all doing right now or you would not be on this site
By English Prof
July 7, 2009 11:09 AM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
Hell a number two pencil and big chief tablet are all it takes to run a paper!!This hog wash about moving to Austin and taking away jobs is crap!!!!!
By bear78
July 7, 2009 11:55 AM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
dee: The paper is being printed in Austin, not produced there. There are still many local employees-reporters, editors, ad sales people, graphic artists, photographers, etc. who live in Waco and are “local”. Ad sales and subscriptions keep the paper in business and allow them to employ these people.
I look at the paper online for updates and blogs, but to me, it’s no substitute for the paper version. Many stories only appear in the print version. So, I think you will be disappointed with online only, as well as hurting the locals that you say you want to support.
Who knows if this change will work for the Trib? Changing demographics and new technology present challenges to all of us in our businesses. I read a lot of news online, there’s no substitute for the paper version.
By MoJoe
July 7, 2009 1:55 PM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
I like JB’s stuff, but I must admit. That photo is pretty lame. Along with the description of JB having a “quirky, street-level view” and the upturned jacket collar and downturned brim, the first impression is rather douchey.
By KDF
July 7, 2009 5:49 PM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
Online is good because I don’t get computer ink on my hands. <><
By ken wilkinson
July 8, 2009 1:28 AM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
Hey, J.B.,
I don’t think that I have ever talked to you, I have seen you around at the paper, I just wanted to say that I do appreciate the story that you wrote on here the other night about us press room guys. I am the weekend pressroom supervisor, I have been working at the paper for 28 years. I wish you would get some more real stories like that out there and get them published in the paper, I don’t think they care too much what I say, I just have to print what they give me to print.
By fancy boy
July 8, 2009 8:08 PM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
Hey there fancy boy!
You look like a private detective from a B movie in your picture.
By private eye luvr
July 9, 2009 4:04 PM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
Hey leave JB alone!
I like his rugged private eye look. He reminds me of that guy that played the private eye in “Who framed Roger Rabbit.”
Except with layers of smug
By drtygrl
July 10, 2009 9:38 AM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
I think he looks like he just did something goofy, and he’s all like, “Did I do that? Yes I did”
By the cheeeeeese
July 10, 2009 4:26 PM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
To express my feelings toward this story, I quote the immortal Encino Man:
“The Cheese is old and moldy”
By El Diablo
July 11, 2009 7:44 PM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
I fancy myself as looking rather like Mr. Downtown. Except that I have horns growing out of me head and a looooong red tail growing out of me butt.
And hooved feet. And red skin. But the hat is the same.
Hope you guess my name.
By eastariver
July 12, 2009 11:05 AM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
Waco Trib needs to not only print their paper, they need to expand and print the American Statesman. Waco needs to realize we do not need to be second to anyone…
By Ellis Dee
July 12, 2009 5:09 PM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
JB’s facial expression screams out one thing to me. He is saying “Guess where my hand is? It is in a VERY FILTHY PLACE.”
By Dale
July 13, 2009 12:27 AM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
Well it’s over at least for now.
An aquaintance of mine moved to Austin about 3 years ago. I ran into him last weekend. We were talking about it, and he said he loves Austin and will never move back to Waco. He told me that compared to Austin, Waco has nothing and is nothing.
Well, not only are we continuing to lose our youth to the South, North, and Southeast, we are continuing the long tradition of sending our jobs those directions as well. I am glad I will not be around to hear the last bell toll for Waco because unless there is a major (and I do mean very major) change, it will happen.
I agree with you EastaRiver, but Waco has decided they not only want to be second to everyone, they don’t even want to be in the game.
By Richard Roebuck
July 13, 2009 5:58 AM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
I live in England and read the Trib on-line mostly, but spend my summers in Waco and read the paper copy, I’m really saddened that a ‘local’ paper isn’t supporting local people, the local economy or local business. I thought the Waco Trib was better than this but obviously not. Very disappointed.
By El Diablo
July 13, 2009 7:02 AM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
The “local” paper is part of Cox, which is hq’d in Atlanta. Let’s don’t fool ourselves.
Sorry for the jobs lost in the pressroom. How many people were terminated? Was it a hundred? A dozen? Can you help us out on that one, J.B.?
While I’m playing reporter, can you tell me if there’s anything to the rumor that a local businessman whose name is on the Clifton Robinson Tower is really negotiating to buy the Tribune-Herald?
By Lori
July 13, 2009 9:11 PM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
J.B.
Great Tribute to the pressmen in the paper today. It’s a shame that it was not in the final Waco press run.
By tax payin' resident
July 14, 2009 3:28 PM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
Sorry to say, but I will never buy or even OPEN a “waco tribune-herald” again. I agree with Dale, Waco has been and is even more so becoming a “nothing” town - we do not support our own. Example: city buildings built by contractors and sub-contractors that are not even residents in our STATE much less our city…
And now we have a newspaper called “Waco Tribune-Herald” that isn’t even printed up in Waco…
Sad.
By feathrs
July 14, 2009 6:38 PM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
J.B. your picture makes you look like a real old timey gumshoe!
you should do a glamour shot for the next one with feather boa
By bear78
July 14, 2009 7:59 PM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
Folks, I don’t mean to be a broken record here, but dropping your Trib subscription accomplishes nothing, except jeopardizing the remaining jobs at the paper in Waco and diminishing its value to a potential buyer. We may not always agree with its stance, but it’s still the “local” paper. It’s a victim of technological and demographic trends beyond its control and the online version is an attempt to adapt.
JB, your shot is a little stale. How about a new one?
By rea
July 15, 2009 9:22 AM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
i droped sub. after many years, got tired of just seeing abt. baylor,and j.c. pennys…sports write up was punny, hardly anything abt. fishing, and we got three of the best fishing lakes around, i get more in ft worth rag. and delivered in my yard not road……tks.
By mikey
July 16, 2009 10:14 AM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
It’s official, the Robinsons have bought the Trib. Funny how the comment section was ommited. This family is one of the several “Waco Blue Blood Families” If they have any shred of community involvement about them then they will rehire all of the Tribs pressmen back at their former payrates and the press machine will roll again.
By El Diablo
July 16, 2009 10:37 AM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
Of course they won’t. This deal has been in the works for a while. I knew about it over a month ago.
One of the stipulations for the sale was cutting costs. They gutted the pressroom ahead of the deal so the new owners wouldn’t be seen as the “bad guys”
I hope the new owners take a hands-off approach. We don’t need a Jerry Jones.
By Shut it down
July 16, 2009 11:10 AM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
Well, there goes the Trib even resembling a legitimate news organization. If anyone really believes that an old money waco family will hold Baylor or any of their cronies accountable for anything they do, they are deluded.
and if you thought they were overly-sensitive about the comments now…just wait.
By mikey
July 16, 2009 3:55 PM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
Does this mean the future Trib will be printed in green and yellow? (gold is too expensive). East Waco, you can kiss your blog good bye, you will never see anything positive about EW in print again. Been here since the Civil War huh? What they have against East Wacoans are that they are probably P_ed off because they dont own anybody there anymore.
By bear78
July 16, 2009 4:21 PM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
More typical Waco bitc*ing and bashing. How would you feel if an out-of-towner, with no local interests, bought it?
I don’t know Robinson, but at least he’s someone with the courage and conviction to put his money where his mouth is, whether it’s Baylor, local charities or now the Trib. My impression is that he made his money, not inherited it, but I’m not familiar with his personal story. No doubt, however, that he and his wife are among the most generous people in Waco to all causes, including the needy.
Mikey, that huge chip on your shoulder is weighing you down, son.
By mikey
July 16, 2009 5:03 PM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
bear78, at present All Waco news media is owned by out of towners with no local interests besides profit. This family seeks to gain “more control” over what people are here. You mention courage and conviction, believe me there are extreme ulterior motives behind this. Seems fitting that a fellow Baylorite would come running to the rescue. Put Silver away Lone Ranger, get in their way and they will run over you too. Oh, and their causes? they stopped in the middle of the river. That chip on my shoulder? The whole big flat empty East Waco. Pretty big chip. We better talk trash while we still can. soon the delete button will be the most used button on the Rob-Tribs keyboard.
By bear78
July 16, 2009 6:48 PM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
Seems like paranoia is setting in, too.
Last time I checked, the goal of all business is to make a profit, otherwise, none of us would have jobs for long.
Mikey, you complain a lot, but I’ll ask you, as I used to ask our old friend Fred on his rants. What are YOU doing to improve life on your side of the river? At which school are you volunteering as a mentor? What neighborhood group are you a part of to improve life in your community? How much of your time and money to you give to your causes?
I can guarantee that a good bit of Robinson’s money has gone to help people in your community-whether it’s the YMCA, college scholarships, etc.
As for the Baylor connection, many successful people in Waco went to school there. I think we’re ready for a little fair, balanced coverage, instead of constant criticism and interference as the Trib has done in the past.
By mark
July 17, 2009 5:43 AM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
El Diablo, as soon as I read the story of who bought the paper I told mama that it sure was nice timing that the presses were shut down BEFORE the new owner took the reins, helps them look more like saviors than the ones who pulled the plug. I understand bidnib is bidnib but gutless is…do I hear a delete key??? Still, I’m glad for all the folks who have kept their jobs at the Trib but I think it’s sad that none of them can call a spade a spade. Nothing like capitalst altruism.
By bear78
July 17, 2009 8:30 AM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
Last post on this (collective applause in background), but it appears most of you just don’t get it. Newspapers are a dying media-probably 99% of the young people you know don’t even subscribe to a print paper. Newspapers across the country are promoting themselves with full page ads (The Newspaper Project). Papers are closing for lack of buyers and others are bleeding money big-time and cutting jobs drastically-look at the Dallas Morning News. So, look beyond the world in Waco to see what’s going on.
I’m amazed you guys are griping because someone local actually stepped up and bought the Trib, despite the challenge of the industry. Robinson didn’t create the mess it’s in-it’s not his fault that the paper ran off thousands of more conservative readers (who actually buy papers!) or that it’s losing money. So to deride him for buying it or blaming him for the press job losses doesn’t make sense. El D, if you knew about it ahead of time, it sounds like the leaks are as bad as the Baylor Board of Regents used to be!
I’m ready for a little local optimism, myself. You all could use some, too.
By mikey
July 17, 2009 10:02 AM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
Me?—-Past President of a Neighborhood Association, still on the board of directors, driver for elderly meals program, President of board at church, assistant coach for basketball and baseball teams, I provide monetary support for all of the above aside from being a volunteer. I don’t get paid for any of this as a matter of fact it cost me money (cold drinks/water for the team, pizza parties, fundraiser support,ect. ect.) retired ex-military. Enough of Me. I noticed the Tribs article on business people this morning commenting about the Robinson’s, notice they were all friends, cronies, and comrades? No one talked to plain old Joe who works 50 hours for a living or plain old Suzy holding down 2 jobs trying to support her kids. That’s just it. Every one including the Trib. looks right over the top of the “little” people that make the wheels turn and the rubber grind the road. Of the people the Trib. talked to, who cuts their lawn? changes their oil? serves their coffee at a restaurant? throws their newspaper? waits on them at the convenience store? What about those people? Who gives a rats behind what they think? “We are the big educated Baylor people who are smarter and more sophisticated than you are, we look through our 1/2 frame eyeglasses down our noses at you. You are the piddly little people underfoot and we mean to keep you there” Ya’ll took all those classes at “Thee University” the largest Baptist University in the world and didnt learn a damn thing about compassion for those less fortunate than yourselves. No I didnt go to Baylor when I was younger, I was too busy toting an M-16 protecting human rights-our constitutional rights, yours among them. My chest swells more than a few inches whenever Old Glory is raised, I spent a long time defending that old gal. Where were you?
Whatsoever you do for the least of my brothers, you do for me. Remember who said that? Are YOU following that mans lead?
By El Diablo
July 17, 2009 10:41 AM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
I just hope the Robinsons are more like Clint Murchison than Jerry Jones.
By Flanigan
July 17, 2009 7:41 PM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
JB… new picture…
you need one…
By Big Red
July 20, 2009 11:49 AM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
I remember a lot farther back — long before you came here, Mr. Smith.
The real story behind the story is that about 20 years ago the Trib bought a press manufactured in Japan, when they could have gotten a US-made one. The former publisher wanted to save money. This was a case of being penny wise and pound foolish because apparently, the Japanese press has now broken down and it is too expensive to send to Tokyo for parts.
Had the Trib gotten the American-made press, chances are it would still be running hale and hearty. And it’d be economically feasible to continue operating it.
Now, Cox Enterprises has pretty much ruined 43 lives by killing these pressmen’s means of making a living in this town. They will likely have to move to Austin, assuming they’ll be hired there, and McLennan County has just lost 43 wonderful families. How sad.
By oldguy
July 21, 2009 10:55 AM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
Get off my lawn!
By cd
July 24, 2009 8:45 PM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
I see getting the printing done in Austin is paying off already! The Opinion section in my paper today had 4 blank pages and looked like it was sent through a shredder. Nice job!