Dear Editor,
I was saddened to read that Nov. 30 will be your last print edition. However, like everyone I am increasingly drawn to the digital edition, especially when travelling.
Local newspapers are extremely valuable in creating a sense of community in the cities they serve.
Your request for submissions from readers with a past involvement with the News took me back to the time when I was a bi-weekly contributor from around 1978 to 1982.
It was a hoot!
In those days there were no personal computers or the internet as we know it.
My deadline was Sunday night for Monday morning when the paper was put together.
Bill Lam was the publisher and Ralph Hall, the editor, as I recall.
I printed my article in ink on foolscap and dropped it off through the mail slot when your office was on River Road.
The next morning Ralph would take my manuscript and type it up in long columns about four or five words wide.
He then cut these columns in long strips and pasted them on a newspaper-size page along with other articles and advertising.
I am not sure how they actually printed the paper from that mock-up but when it came out the columns were often crooked and there were several typos and occasionally paragraphs were missing or out of order.
But it worked!
Now, behold, here is the Richmond News, 45 years later and still going strong!
Glad to have been part of your history.
Best wishes for the future.
Greg Halsey-Brandt
RICHMOND
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