99 laid off at Daytona Beach

I especially enjoy the publisher's propensity for run-on sentences.

"Publishing stock market results five days a week has been
discontinued, instead we will enhance the capabilities of our website
with additional stock market information and services."

 

Funeral homes? I'd have to say death is recession-proof.

Sorry for the gallows humor, but Christ, when does this end?

 

Two names I heard were of long-time deskers--Katherine Keegan and Kathleen Casey. Both had been at the N-J well over 25 years.

If there is an opening at AP Orlando, Hornack would be a great fit. I hope he gets it.

Good luck to all of you at the N-J.

 

Here's my favorite part: "These changes are unwelcome, but required."

Required by who? What, did Moses bring them to you on a couple stone tablets?

 

Kudos to Brian McLaughlin, Steve Master and Tony Jones for their work in covering preps in Volusia County. It's good to see each one landed on their feet with new gigs.

 

And kudos to Ken Hornack, a nice, nice guy who -- along with Andy Mikula -- penned some good sidebars during the Ginn Championship.

I've been out of the biz six years as of next month and hearing an endless loop of these stories still blows.

 

Side note on those Rex Smith photos posted earlier:

Man, passage of time can really change one's perspective---when Rex Smith was a genuine semi-celebrity 25 years ago, he looked like a real stud--I was a bit envious.

Now when I see the same photo in 2008, he looks like a girl, or at best a metrosexual wuss.

 

Hornack's Christmas Carols every year were a semi-tradition ... best of fortune to him as well.

So are the only people covering the Magic games going to be the Sentinel, the TV stations and the one or two visiting writers?

 

Seven people in sports are gone? How many are left? Three?

 

Hello all. I know about this situation pretty closely, so I'd like to answer a few questions.

OTD, if you have any names of people you'd like me to check on, I'll gladly do so.

The sports editor, Dave Markowitz, will not be at APSE. Every year APSE time when Daytona hosts its second NASCAR race, so everyone in the department is pretty busy.

The sports writers who were lost on Monday were:

Ken Hornack, who it seems many of you know. He covered the Magic since their first season and had been at the News-Journal for 25 years.

Andy Mikula, who was part of the Flagler bureau, covering Flagler Palm Coast High School and the new Matanzas High School. He also had been at the NJ for 25 years.

The rest were desk people:

Rob Moore, a copy editor who had been at the paper for about 2 years from Texas.

Phil Larson, a clerk who had been at the paper for 1-2 years. He had gotten a job elsewhere but was still helping out so they wouldn't lose that position in the hiring freeze.

Antonio Del Valle, a day clerk who did all the crap jobs like club listings/local sport results/tv listings.



Prep editor Brian McLaughlin did take a job with the Sporting News, and his leaving may have saved someone else a job. He was one of the best in the state. Despite him leaving voluntarily, his job won't be replaced.

Clerk Jerry Logue was finally leaving after several years at the paper. This was one of several jobs he had to put his way through aeronautical school. His job won't be replaced either.


Those seven are gone, and two others -- GA Steve Master and prep writer Tony Jones -- have moved on to other jobs in the past year.


That's nine people in the department in one year. By my count that leaves 15. It's going to be a tough go for them, especially until the paper is bought, but all they can do is the best they can. Good luck.

In all nearly 40 people in editorial lost their jobs on Monday. The rest of the 99 from advertising and other sections will be later this week. Mostly all low and middle of the road folks. Barely any managers. Guess that round will happen when the paper is sold.



If you have any more interest, check out the following links

http://www.news-journalonline.com/newsjournalonline/breakingnews/nj062308.htm

http://n-jwatch.blogspot.com/


Good luck to the News-Journal, and everyone else in similar situations. We didn't get in this business for the money, but we also didn't get in to get crapped on like this.

 

Thanks for clearing that up. I think I was slightly off. But I had most of it correct.