The Duncan Banner

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February 25, 2010

A group goes unthanked until now

Ron Booth

In recent columns I have told you about the great people outside of The Duncan Banner. I’ve penned columns on how people have come to our aid and given us all the help we could want and more.

But the people that I have neglected are the people that work along side of me. No matter what you think of them, in my mind, they are the best around, and I don’t tell them that nearly enough.

That’s not to say that things can’t get tense, like most people who spend 40 hours a week together, we can wear on one another, but that doesn’t change how well we all work together. We all have our strengths and weaknesses, but that goes for anyone in any profession.

That’s because, whether you know it or not, the people in the newsroom are a dedicated bunch. They take their job very seriously. Yet, they never hear the compliments that they should.

Toni Hopper is the most veteran reporter that The Banner has. She has been here since the beginning of the last decade. For a reporter that is an extraordinary tenure. Most newspaper folks are up and gone after a year or so.

The thing that I respect about Toni is that she is passionate about her job. She wants to get as many details as she can. She is also the best photographer we have on staff, and she loves that part of the job, too.

Another person that is determined to be the best they can be is Michael Pineda, The Banner sports editor. Michael eats, breaths and lives local sports. Not only can he do local sports, but he can also pitch in on the news side. Michael rarely complains about a task handed to him.

I was asked recently by another managing editor how many stories Michael could do if he didn’t shoot his own pictures, do videos, pages and update the Web site, and my honest answer was, and is, there is no telling.

Derrick Miller is one of the people that I can count on the most. If a story falls through and we need a last second story, Derrick can pull it out of thin air it seems. Derrick loves his school beat. He is more than happy to be out in one of the schools talking to the students and faculty.

After Derrick, the staff is very young and shows growing pains, but they are all making strides to get better at what they want to do in life.

Kevin Kerr, Matt Tillson, David Laughlin and Ben Whitehead all have a desire to excel in the field of journalism.

They have all shown great promise and a desire to get better at their chosen profession.

I like my group of “cub” reporters because they are all still excited about their job.

When thrown an assignment they all are ready to get to work. They like the challenge and, I think they like learning.

It’s been said many times before that your only as good as the people around you, and that’s true. I feel pretty good about the job we do, and that’s because of my team members.



— Ron Booth is the managing editor for The Duncan Banner. He can be reached at 580-255-5354, Ext. 166, or via e-mail at ron.booth@duncanbanner.com.

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