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Join us for an evening with Andy, Burt, Mike

Having been buried under an avalanche of election stories, candidate questionnaires and interviews with so, so many politicians over the past few weeks, it’s been hard for me to think about anything other than the Nov. 8 election.

Aside from the candidates who have been fighting this battle since January — or earlier for those in statewide races — I’d argue that no one is looking more forward to the end of campaign season than I am.

We get so wrapped up in election season twice a year that some of us in my newsroom might even sometimes forget there is so much more to a newspaper than just, well, news.

Our sports department has been wrapped up in high school athletics playoff seasons.

Our business writer has been focused on reporting interesting stories about new electric vehicles being manufactured in Lordstown and, as is evident by the story on today’s front page, about the effect that the new Licking County, Ohio, Intel plant will have on our Valley.

But what about the stuff that’s inside our newspaper every day that does more than inform — it entertains.

Now, please don’t misunderstand. This is not to diminish any of the hard work that the rest of our staff does. Believe me when I say there is no one in our newsroom that doesn’t work incredibly hard.

But I believe that a newspaper our size goes well beyond what many other community publications do these days to also entertain and brighten the days of our readers through our Life and entertainment sections and through our photography.

As far as entertainment reporting, frankly, I’d put our newspaper’s Thursday “Ticket” section up against any newspaper entertainment section in the nation — particularly newspapers our size. Singlehandedly, our Entertainment Writer Andy Gray plans and puts together all content, including stories, calendars, art, graphics and columns for the Ticket section every single week.

His institutional knowledge of music and the arts can be rivaled only by the relationships he’s built with people in the local entertainment industry. The trust and respect they have for him speaks volumes for the level of his work.

Features Editor and humor columnist Burton Cole routinely entertains with the words on our Life pages. He shares well-written sometimes light-hearted or sometimes incredibly uplifting stories about the people in our community. Some are survivors. Some have interesting hobbies or interesting stories to tell. And some, sadly, have experienced significant misfortune, and are working to bounce back. Burt always is able to capture and accurately convey the essence of the story in a way very few writers can. Of course, Burt’s humor columns also bring many chuckles to regular readers on Sunday mornings.

And then there is our award-winning photographer, R. Michael Semple, a second-generation photographer who followed in the footsteps of his father who also was a longtime photographer at the Tribune Chronicle.

Mike’s photography knowledge spans decades, and it’s often said in our newsroom that there is nothing Mike hasn’t seen or shot — most more than once.

I’ve found in my years here that our readers more often desire to hear the stories from these three men than possibly from anyone else who works in our newsroom. Publisher Charles Jarvis agrees, and has often called the three “gems.” We are so fortunate to have them in our northeast Ohio community newspaper.

And so, we have invited each of them — Andy, Burt and Mike — to share some of their stories and some photos or articles with our readers who, we are certain, will love to hear them.

We are hosting an “Evening with Andy, Burt and Mike” for an on-stage “fireside” chat and also a Q&A at 6 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 17, at Kent State at Trumbull. They will spend some time telling unique stories about their careers and the things they’ve encountered through their many decades here.

We hope you will join us.

The event is free, but tickets are required. Call our newspaper’s event coordinator Sue Shafer at 330-841-1696 or email sshafer@tribtoday.com for information or to reserve your seats.

blinert@tribtoday.com

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