Commentary by Wayne Lee
This coming Saturday, May 16, marks a milestone in my personal history. First, it’s the birthday of my younger brother who died in a car crash when he was 20. But it just so happens that it is also the date of the very first story I wrote as an audition for this esteemed publication.
I’ve saved every print edition that contained my writings over these past eight years, filling a pair of cardboard boxes I keep in a small corner of my humble abode. What a journey it has been. My very first assignment was to cover an Eagle Point City Council meeting. I sat in the audience so I could identify the players in the game since this was my first local council meeting
It had been more than 30 years since I last wrote for a publication, and my writing was clearly rusty at best, but it all came back to me as I evidently passed the audition and was hired. Back then the city was just adopting their new motto “Welcome to the Neighborhood.” Also on that meeting agenda were two proposals to develop the Old Fire House Property. Here we are, eight years later, and the city has accepted another proposal for vacant property. Hope springs eternal.
Back in the day, we had a sports editor who covered high school sports in town, but he moved on after my initial year, and I stepped up to try to fill the void. I’ve always been a big supporter of high school athletics and activities. So much of a town’s identity is centered around its high school and its programs. It also didn’t hurt that I was getting paid $30 per story.
Eventually I was asked to write a column. I’m not sure why, but I think my talent lies as a storyteller. For some reason I can’t explain, people enjoy reading about my crazy adventures and I have an entire lifetime of them. One day we may have to change this to Wayne’s Memories and rerun them until people no longer care. Chances are that will be much sooner than later.
However, the writing, so to speak, was on the wall. The newspaper was on a new owner by the time I came on board (after being rejected by the two previous owners) and ad revenue was on a downward spiral. Eventually, ownership changed once more, and we actually had to start a GoFundMe account for donations to pay down the debt inherited by the previous owner, or else the printer was going to drop us and we would be forced to cease publication.
That fact that you are now reading this online illustrates the difficulty of keeping a news organization operating in an ever-expanding digital universe. I now volunteer my time on the paper. We’re hanging on by a thread, but we believe local news is worth the effort.
The switch to digital proved more difficult than anticipated, but we’re working out the kinks and subscriptions are slowly beginning to increase. For once, the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t a freight train.
So, here’s to eight years of immersing myself in all thigs Eagle Point and beyond. As the Grateful Dead so famously said, “What a long, strange trip it’s been.”
