Another journalist becomes a public information officer
Also: We want to drive on the new bridge; remembering the fallen from 2001 attack; cash for food drive
Another one bites the dust! Sadly, we’re graduating another journalist from the newsroom this week: Rachel Rosenbaum, who has reported and written on all manner of features and hard news topics and for the last couple years has served as the public safety beat reporter. You can’t help but learn a ton of stuff, working as a reporter for a couple years – especially, perhaps, as a cops and courts reporter.
As she mentions in her farewell column, printed elsewhere on this page, she’s seen people having their best and worst times. There are a thousand things and skills you learn on the job in the newsroom – am outfit the size of the Appeal, in a community as vibrant and newsy as this, makes a great finishing school.
We expect new reporters to come, get their experience and build their clip folders, and move on to bigger and better things. In fact, we’re proud of them, as we are of Rachel. It’s been that way forever.
We only wish that the trend, now a days, of good young reporters leaving journalism for public information jobs would reverse (not that we don’t need good public information officers ... but the world needs journalists).
* Thumbs Up: We find ourselves traveling in the direction of the 5th Street Bridge ... just to go over the 5th Street Bridge. It’s new! It seems like others are doing the same ... the traffic is brisk, whenever we’ve gone over. When the other two lanes are done, it will be sort of like that traffic is divided in half, won’t it?
The project manager, Mehrdad Varzandeh, said in a recent article that they hope to slow traffic down, in the meantime.
“... We know that everyone is excited to be on the bridge, but we lowered the speed limit from 35 mph to 25 mph,” he said.
That’s to keep things safe as they carry on work and change traffic patterns now and then. * Thumbs Up: We appreciate that the Yuba-sutter Fraternal Order of Leatherheads Society (firefighters) is planning an observance of Patriot Day – Sept. 11. This year’s will be the 18th anniversary of the attacks that brought down the Twin Towers in New York, did serious damage to the Pentagon and left an airliner full of passengers who resisted terrorists dead on the ground in Pennsylvania.
Almost 3,000 people died and 6,000 more were injured, it was noted. Many, many thousands more than that were affected.
“This is to pay homage to people who lost their lives involuntarily and the ones who voluntarily put themselves in danger and lost their lives,” said Brad Hudson, member of the society.
It will be at 9 a.m. Sept. 11 at Washington Square Park in Marysville.
* Thumbs Up: The Yuba-sutter-colusa United Way’s “Cash for Food” drive raised nearly $19,000 for area food pantries.
The cash program started last year. Delivering cash instead of boxes of collected food allows the pantry managers to go out and buy what they most need to deliver proper nutrition to those they help.
They beat last year’s total by $3,000.
* Ugh: It’s that time of year ... Early in the morning on the first day of school, a mom goes to wake up her son.
“Wake up, son, it’s time to get ready to go to school.”
“No. Mom, I don’t want to go to school.”
“Oh, that’s silly. Give me two good reasons why you shouldn’t go.”
“For one, the kids all hate me. And for two, all the teachers hate me.”
“Oh, that’s not true. Come on now, get up and get dressed and ready.”
“Give me two good reasons I should have to go to school,” the son demanded.
“Well,” said the mom, “for one, you’re 52 years old; and for two, you’re the principal.”