Ashtabula (Ohio) Star Beacon

Company: Star Beacon
Position:Seeking sports writer
Location:Ashtabula, Ohio
Job Status: Full-time
Salary: $25,000 to $30,000
Ad Expires: June 12, 2008
Job ID: 730547
Website: http://www.starbeacon.com

Description:
We have an immediate opening and are in search of a person with varied talents, most notably page design and writing, 99 percent of which would be on the prep level. We are an 18,000-circulation morning daily, located 50 minutes east of Cleveland, 50 minutes west of Erie, Pa. and 45 minutes north of Youngstown. We offer full benefits, including medical, dental, vision, life and 401K. Applicants should have a solid background in using Quark, NewsEdit Pro and Adobe Photoshop and, perhaps even more importantly, a desire to 'take the ball and run with it' in terms of joining an award-winning sports department. This job is for our lead prep football, boys basketball and baseball writer and would include at least one night of layout per week. Send resumes and clips to Sports Editor Don McCormack, P.O. Box 2100, Ashtabula, Ohio, 44005-2100, or, via e-mail at donmac@suite224.net. No telephone calls.


I looked up the stats on Ashtabula, and I found it rather jarring that 21% of the population is under the poverty line. That being said, I'm guessing there aren't too many places where $25-30K will go as far as they do here.

 

I spent a week in Ashtabula doing a story on a crooked boxing operation run out of there. It is the asshole of Ohio.

 

Ashtabula may be a dump, but Carl Pearson and most everyone else I've worked with there are good people. Just don't expect much of a night life.

 

I'll look for you in old Honolulu, San Francisco and Ashtabula. You're going to have to leave me now, I know. But I'll look for you in the sky above, the green grass and the things I love. You're going to make me lonely when you go.

 

I'm not really defending it because I haven't been there in more than 10 years, but Ashtabula is far from the asshole of Ohio. That distinction can be reserved for about a dozen other places in the state. My parents have rented a summer cottage not too far down the road in Geneva on the Lake for the past 15 years, and it can be a pretty laid back area. That salary, especially if it's on the high end, is pretty damn decent for northeast Ohio.

I have no idea what the paper is like or how they are preparing for the future. But knowing the area, one could do far, far worse.

 

Home to Florida coach Urban Meyer

 

"... located 50 minutes east of Cleveland, 50 minutes west of Erie, Pa. and 45 minutes north of Youngstown."

I'm no expert on Ohio geography, but that sounds like code for, "in the middle of nowhere."

 

Isn't that redundant? ;D

 

You must be from a big city, because to me, that sounds like code for, "close to everything."

 

Nope. I grew up in the middle of nowhere. I suppose I can see your point, though.

 

Who's leaving? I know someone there.

 

James Johnson, from what I hear, has already left.