Reflecting on Steve Weaver, friendship, journalism and Melvyn’s
Before we get too far into 2020, I thought I would clear out a few things — from my mailbox and from my mind — including some thoughts that have been floating in my head since the end of 2019. I’ll begin with some readers’ thoughts.
Dear John,
Thank you for writing your article on Steve Weaver. I was stunned when I read it. I did not know he had passed. I spent hours over the years sitting and talking with Steve. His passion for helping kids in Los Banos was deep, genuine and filled with old school sensibilities about work ethic and responsibility. I am certain the lessons those kids learned were ones that they would not have gotten at other businesses.
I watched many kids grow over the years in Hot City Barbecue, the pride in their work obvious. Los Banos has lost someone who was quietly investing in its young peoples’ future.
Thank you again for your story, my heart is heavy with this news.
Gary Thacker
Gary, you are one of many people who have expressed their appreciation for Steve and for the columns I wrote about him. He was a remarkable individual who will be deeply missed. It is encouraging to hear that Hot City is staying in business and is continuing to thrive, thanks in large part to the work ethic he inspired in the young people he mentored.
Another reader wrote about my column on friendship.
Dear John,
What would I ever have done without good, close, lasting, deep friendships? In my life intimate family nurturing was lacking, but my caring friends were there for me whenever I was in pain, and they shared their laughter with me, too.
Great column, John.
Mary Anderson
Mary, many other readers told me how important friendship has been in their lives, including friendships with their colleagues. I have been fortunate, for example, to develop friendships related to my newspaper columns with editors like Tom Wright, Kim Yancey and Mike Dunbar and publishers like Bill Brehm, Rhonda Lowe and Gene Lieb.
More recently I developed a collegial friendship with Tad Weber, who edited the opinion page of the Los Banos Enterprise during the past year, and with Rob Parsons, who has been overall Enterprise editor for several years. Rob is moving on to a new assignment with the Fresno Bee and Tad will be concentrating on other editorial duties.
I want to thank Tad and Rob for their professionalism and courtesy in dealing with me and my columns. I have communicated with them online, and they have treated me kindly. Tad ensured that my columns were clear and concise and posted regularly online. Rob has created appealing presentations of my column in print. I wish them both the best in their future.
Shawn Jansen will now be taking on the editorial assignments for the Enterprise, including the opinion page. Shawn is an experienced, professional journalist who has spent years reporting and editing news and sports in Merced County.
I have admired Shawn’s work over the years. He has written many stories that have appeared in the Enterprise, primarily related to sports but also to community news. I look forward to working with him.
Shawn, publisher Gene Lieb, my fellow columnist Diana Ingram and I continue to work in the changing world of journalism that directly impacts the Los Banos Enterprise and other small-town newspapers.
As most readers know, newspapers are losing advertising revenue to other media, primarily social media, and many readers get their news online, either from a digital newspaper or other internet source. As a result, the printed editions of newspapers have been getting thinner and thinner.
In 2020 newspapers have to deal with a new California law that went into effect January 1, AB 5, which deals with, among other things, limits on what free-lance writers, like Enterprise columnists, can submit to a newspaper. This represents another challenge to small-town newspapers--to be dealt with as the year goes on.
On a completely unrelated matter, I want to thank John Cates, current president of the Los Banos Chamber of Commerce, for a tip he gave me about a Southern California town. I happened to mention to John that my wife Sandy and I would be spending some time in Palm Springs. He recommended a place called Melvyn’s, a restaurant attached to the Ingleside Inn.
Melvyn’s, especially its bar, is a place where Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and other Hollywood legends would hang out in the late 1940s and ‘50s. When Sandy and I walked in we felt we were transported back in time 70 years, appreciating and its long polished bar and Art Deco ambiance. As John did for me, I’m passing on his tip to others who may visiting Palm Springs in the future.
Now that I have cleared my mailbox and my head, I can move on to other topics in future columns in 2020.
John Spevak wrote this for the Los Banos Enterprise. His email is john.spevak@gmail.com.
