TO ALL MY DEAD HOMIES

This one's for Shannon Young. A bright and talented journalist who signed off the air tonight. She's going into financial management.

This one's for Melissa Enfield, perhaps the most passionate sports reporter I've ever met and by far the best sportscaster Southern Oregon had.

This one's for Curtis Bartlett, a great weather reporter, a great technical director, and a great person.

This one's for Matt Montgomery, new father and sleep deprived. His voice is what my voice wants to be when it grows up.

This one's for Jason Clark. He reported in the crappy little town of Texarkana and could dig up stories like nobody's business. He also taught me how to be a journalist.

This one's for Chad Hooker. A teenager and photographer who could take video of a stop sign that looked so beautiful it would make you weep. (He has since ceased to be a teenager.)

This one's for Jake Corbell. An executive producer. That's often a job for hotheads. But Jake could be cool as a cucumber even if the house was burning down. I've never seen a person handle a crisis better.

This one's for Darrel Rebouche. He was managing editor? I think? I'll be honest, I never had much idea what Darrell did when he worked at the same station as me. When he was gone, I finally understood. He did everything. When he was gone, nothing worked the way it was supposed to. (Oddly enough, I'm much better friends with him now than I ever was when we worked together. Strange how that works.)

This one's for Rich DeMuro, a "troubleshooter" for a local TV station turned top-notch tech reporter. (He's doing a great daily video podcast called the Synched Up Show, you should all watch it and shower him with money.)

They all worked in TV news. None of them do anymore. Some got out on their own terms, while others were shown the door. But they were all excellent. If there's no room for these people in the news business, or if the industry can't retain people like this, then the news business has some big problems.

But I guess we already knew that.

(and this is the part where I pour a portion of my "40" onto the lawn)