Farewell

A Little Off the Top

By Ethan Smith / Editor

This will be my last column as editor of the Lake County Leader.

It's been almost three and a half years since I started, and when I look back, I can't believe where the time went. Maybe it's because I've been too busy to notice.

After much soul-searching, I realized I wanted a little more normal work-life — something more 9-to-5. Last year was the third summer in a row that I didn't play golf, go fly fishing, camping or hiking as much as I wanted to, among many things.

That's just part of the job though, and I have no regrets.

In fact, I have a lot of fond memories from this experience. There are things I'm proud of and things I wish I had done better, but it's been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.

There's been a lot of neat stories along the way. Some that stick out in my mind are the August, 2005 bank robbery in Pablo, and the capture of the two escaped prisoners from Deer Lodge, in the Swan last summer. Both were exciting to cover because I was literally following along — either in the car or on the scanner — as the Sheriff's office tracked these people down (within 56 minutes in the case of the bank robbery and less than 24 hours in the case of the escapees).

One of the most nerve-wracking experiences I had was in the minutes leading up to spending the night in the county jail. I just didn't know what to expect, especially if someone recognized me and wanted to harass me ("My kid's birth announcement didn't run for three weeks …").

Those were exciting things, but the everyday newspaper life is filled with human experiences that are often more interesting. Some of my favorite human-interest stories included my interview with Rhonda Wright, an SKC student who had escaped a very abusive relationship. She was candid and straightforward about the abuse, which at times made me cringe just to hear her talk about what her ex-husband did to her.

Rhonda wanted to tell her story in hopes of encouraging other women to get out of similar relationships, and it took a lot of courage to share her story. I really admired that.

Sometimes, even in my line of work, you wonder if anybody cares or is impacted by what you write. After that story appeared, a woman called our office, sobbing, and told a co-worker just how much she appreciated Rhonda's story. That made my month.

In this line of work, nobody calls to say "thanks," but that's just part of the job and I have no regrets.

I also enjoyed talking to Polson High School student Ryley Duford in January, 2006, about what it's like playing sports while almost completely deaf. While that doesn't hinder his ability to tackle, catch a football or wrestle, it has created many unique (and sometimes humorous) situations on the playing field.

I still laugh when I think about Ryley telling me how he once ran down the field on a kickoff and decked an unsuspecting opponent because he didn't hear the ref's whistle blow the play dead. (My brother did that once on a kid who signaled "fair catch," which my brother didn't see. Best 15-yard penalty he ever got.)

Best quote by far came from Ken Esterby of Charlo, who announced at his 50th wedding anniversary celebration that he and wife Edna's first child "was born nine months and 15 minutes after we got married."

I've had some memorable phone calls over the past few years. One of the funniest I ever got was from a guy complaining that his name was misspelled in the courts section. While this would be good news for most people — "Hey, it was Ethin Smith that got arrested for mooning the principal, not me!" — this guy was really frustrated.

"Would you like us to run a correction," I asked.

"Uhhh, no, I guess not," he said, realizing that sometimes being misidentified is good.

One part of the job that I actually grew to love is dealing with difficult people. When I first started, it used to make me razzled when people were verbally abusive and obnoxious (usually over the most ridiculous things.) Now, I just take it in stride, and often laugh about it later.

I'm much more laid back, and no longer sweat the small stuff.

I'll definitely miss the Law Logs Lady. To this day, I have no idea who she is. When I first started, we used to print the "law logs" — a wrap up of many of the calls officers and deputies responded to the week prior. Because the call list was faxed to us each week, we had to retype it from scratch. It was too time consuming to justify doing that every week, so I nixed it.

Boy, she hated that. "WHEEERRREE'S MY LAW LOGS?" she'd scream into the phone. The funny thing is that her voice was so raspy from smoking about 40 Marlboros a day that she'd have to rest in between profanities, especially if she let fly with a good string of them.

She was my trial-by-fire in the early days. After the law logs didn't appear for a few weeks, she called me up and yelled up one side and down the other, about how the paper wasn't good for anything, etc., etc., except the law logs.

One day, I don't know what came over me, but I picked up the phone and it was her again, screaming about the law logs, and I just shouted back into the phone "WHEEERRREEE'S MY LAW LOGS?" in my best imitation of her, and there was this stunned silence.

And that was it. She never called back.

I only pulled that stunt once, but I highly recommend it. Up until then, I didn't even know I had it in me.

That's just part of the job though, and I have no regrets. It also made me a better baseball umpire. I mean, if you can put up with the Law Logs Lady, you can deal with any coach or parent in Western Montana. Any league.

Speaking of umpiring, the good news is that I will still be a part of the community here, after accepting a job with the Coalition for Kids, working to make the county and reservation a little safer to live in. You'll still see me at your kids' sporting events, and I'll still be an active part of the community, just not behind a camera.

My last day in the office will be next Friday, Feb. 1. The good news is that my replacement is ready to go, and that makes me feel better knowing that I'm handing over the reins to someone while I'm still here. Sarah is starting next week and I know she'll do a great job (look for her bio in the Jan. 31 edition).

Hopefully, the Law Logs Lady won't call her.

I will miss working with Paul Fugleberg most of all. He taught me so much over the years, including setting me straight on readers' expectations and what was important to them (editors can be woefully inadequate at judging what you all like to see in your local paper). Paul is the steady rock in our office, Mr. Consistency. He often tempered my sometimes impatient or shortsighted nature, and steered me in the right direction when I needed it, on so many levels.

Thanks, Paul.

When I walk out the door for the final time next week, it will be with some regret in that I loved my job and took pride in my work. Hopefully, that showed to you, the reader. Like I said, I've got no regrets.

(Editor's note: For all the dozens of you that I've come to know over the years who still want to keep in touch, my personal email is ethansmail2000@yahoo.com. I'd love to hear from everyone except the Law Logs Lady).