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Moving on
 It's been great working these past two years at The Franklin Sun, but the time has come for me to move on.
I was recently given the opportunity to write for an Internet site that covers state-wide news and politics, as well as some national content, and I've decided that it was something that I couldn't pass up.
There is risk in the change, since I'll be writing for a web log—a blog, if you will.
I have a little experience blogging, but not much.
It will be a new way of writing and gathering information for me and it will take some getting used to.
It also promises to be a lot of fun and will give me more exposure, so I'm excited.
What isn't fun is saying good-bye to the great readers who have made working for this community newspaper a pleasure.
Before I came to The Sun, I had grown pretty sour on the newspaper business.
I had spent a few years working for corporate newspapers, which are withering with the emergence of the Internet as a news source and, even more, because they have grown so detached from their readers.
After I was laid off from The Town Talk in 2008, I actually found my life to be more fulfilling working in the back of a friend's deli in Alexandria making sandwiches in obscurity.
While I knew that wouldn't last, I wasn't sure if I would ever go back to newspapers.
It wasn't that I no longer had the news business in my blood; it just wasn't worth the hassle of dealing with an industry in such disarray.
The readers of The Franklin Sun restored my faith in newspapers and I'll treasure the memories I have made here forever.
Franklin Parish is a place where readers are deeply engaged with their local newspaper and care about the people who work here as much as what they read about in The Sun.
It's been great getting to know the people here, covering news, writing my opinion pieces and –especially—drawing my cartoons.
An older gentleman approached me a couple of weeks ago to say that he opens The Sun to page 5A as soon as he gets the paper.
I thought he was going to say that he couldn't wait to read my column, but I should have guessed that he just wanted to see my cartoon.
A picture is worth a thousand words, I guess, and it seems the ones I drew poking a little, harmless fun at local politicians were the most appreciated.
I'll miss drawing them, but I don't think Franklin Parish's politicians will miss my cartoons very much.
I will also miss picking up the telephone to hear what you are thinking and quaint amenities like Marian Johnson dropping off a batch of cookies for The Sun staff.
Ms. Marian would regulary bring me and Monica Huff sugar-free ice cream sandwiches, because we are diabetics.
Thanks, Ms. Marian. It's because of you that I learned the wonders an ice cream sandwich can do to perk up spirits on a tight deadline.
It's going to sad for me not to be able to see Monica, Katie, Nikki and Wanda almost every day.
They are a great group of women who have become like a second family to me and they do an excellent job putting together this newspaper.
Leaving them behind will be the hardest part of leaving the job.
It's been a blast working for the Hanna family.
My grandfather, R.T. Bonnette, worked for Sam Hanna at The Concordia Sentinel for about 30 years, before he retired in the early 1990's.
He died shortly a short time later.
I felt a little like I was carrying on his legacy working under Sam Hanna Jr. at The Sun.
The good news is that it looks like I will still, for the time being, be covering the Winnsboro City Council and Police Jury.
For those of you who might be curious about what I'm up to, you will be able to read my blog writings at www.thehayride.com.
My first post was upon Monday and more will come after Thanksgiving.
I recently traveled to New Orleans and I wrote about, as well as videotaped and took pictures of, the Occupy NOLA movement.
The experienced served as the inspiration for my last cartoon for The Sun, which appears on page 5A of this week's paper.
I'll see you at The Hayride and, maybe, even around town occasionally.
Keep the ice cream sandwiches stocked, Ms. Marian.For the full story, subscribe to the The Franklin Sun's NEW E-Edition! |
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