Strange times in this business...

Some background: As most of you probably know, I used to work for the Register-Pajaronian in Watsonville, near Santa Cruz, Calif. It was a small paper, badly run at the highest levels but strong in a few areas such as photography and idiosyncratic column writing. We also had one reporter who, in spite of being a classic East Coast elite type, spoke better Spanish than many native speakers and did some of the best journalism that area has seen since a Pulitzer win in the '50s.

During the two years I was there, our greatest fear was that the much larger, better-funded Santa Cruz Sentinel would suddenly realize that our mostly under-30 operation was cutting into their profit margin and come snuff us out, which they could have done in the space of about a week if they had set their minds to it.

Instead, they mounted a tentative assault in the form of a satellite office even lamer and less experienced than our team and we survived. Shortly after I left, the Sentinel was the subject of a series of moderately hostile takeovers and wound up in the hands of the MediaNews Group, a huge chain that fired many of the paper's employees and broke down their historical presses so the paper could be printed more cheaply in San Jose.

As much as those guys deserved it, I remember my dad pointing out the Sentinel building when I was in elementary school and making a joke about all the old reporters taking pay cuts so they could leave their troubles behind them and just come work for the Sentinel on the beach. At the time, it cracked me up. These days, not so much. Thanks for shattering my dreams, mass media.

Then today, I came across this news item:

Press rolls off truck on Hwy 17
Posted: Wednesday, Oct 17th, 2007
BY: R-P STAFF

A large flatbed big-rig overturned on Highway 17 south of the summit early Tuesday morning, leading to the closure of three lanes.

Grant Boles of the California Highway Patrol said the big-rig was hauling hunks of metal from a dismantled printing press from the Santa Cruz Sentinel newspaper when a strap broke, causing the load to shift. The rig spilled its load and turned over in the northbound lanes just past 9:30 a.m.

Only minor injuries were reported.

Boles said a massive cleanup was then set into motion, leading to the closure of both northbound lanes until 2:15 p.m. One southbound lane was shut for about 90 minutes during the ordeal.

"It was a real mess," Boles said.

Caltrans assisted in traffic control and road cleanup.
***

I used to work with Grant and Caltrans several times a week and I can only imagine the laugh the guys got out of this one. A bitter laugh, since most of the folks I worked with out there have since moved away or retreated to grad school because the actual industry scares them so badly right now.

Then I heard an e-rumor that, due to unforeseen personnel shifts (pronounced: firings), some of those very displaced folks may be coming this way, and sooner than anyone could have guessed.

Hey guys, remember that time I bailed out of a failing business venture just in time and you all were left holding the bag? Yeah, that was a hoot. No hard feelings, right?