Off the Editor’s Spike by Darryl Wilkinson: Loose ends

Liz and I expected confusion. The nature of this business doesn’t allow such decisions to be private and we very much prefer to report the news rather than to make any news ourselves. You worry about slamming the doors too early while hoping you’re not hanging on for too long.

One certainty is loose ends. Atop my list is the archive of newspapers, our print editions bound in large books for posterity.

Newspapers make poor antiques; paper crumbles. Ironically, some of the oldest papers actually age better than the decades of newer ones. Virgin wood pulp takes both abuse and sunlight better than recycled paper which contains chemicals. Regardless, when perusing these old papers, evidence of “paper crumbs” are left on the table despite best efforts of being careful. They become “damaged goods” and delicate.

Over the decades we solved this dilemma by putting each print edition on microfilm available to everyone at the public library. That pacified genealogists and others until computers came along. You can’t text search microfilm any more than you can jump to a particular word or topic buried in the original archived print copies.

The bound volumes of this newspaper take space. We’ve tightly arranged these books by decade on five 8-foot shelves in our break room and more shelving would be better. The library really doesn’t need these large books, not with microfilm in place. The original archive should be kept with the newspaper …except this newspaper’s future is now in doubt.

Perhaps the Daviess County Historical Society should take possession. But, realistically, that means these books will join the stack of books which archive the Pattonsburg Call, doomed to neglect and disuse in an upstairs bedroom at the squirrel cage jail.

Actually, the historical society itself is a bit of a “loose end.” The last organized efforts from this group were in stabilizing the squirrel cage jail in 1993 by a handful of volunteers; the last time the group was actively meeting was in publishing the 1985 Daviess County History Book. The society is long overdue to reorganize in order to go forward.

Much work could be done to update our local history since the 1985 history book. This puts a premium on researching the last four decades of the newspaper archive – not necessarily to publish another book or anything in print but rather, at least in my mind, to produce a digital archive for future use. If done properly, then the digital archive (photos and text articles) should reach back into previous decades as volunteer efforts allow.

We’re uncovering a lot of loose ends while working toward shutting Gallatin Publishing Company down. So, you’ll have to excuse us as some things unravel or if you become confused. We don’t have all the answers. We’ve never done this before. Loose ends are …well, loose!

Let go my Lego!

Ask a cop and he or she will tell you that theft is a top crime of choice among the world’s criminals. Now I read where French police are focusing on an international gang of, what England’s Guardian newspaper calls, “Lego Looters.” A woman and two men have been arrested in Paris, admitting they are part of a gang robbing special editions of the popular building block toys. Thefts have been reported throughout Europe and the USA — for reason: prices set at auctions keep rising. A $150 special 2007 Lego set in its original condition can fetch as much as $3,000 today!