The Indiana Publisher

July 2020 Page 3 Staff Reports Vincennes Sun-Commercial Sun-Commercial names new publisher, editor The Vincennes Sun-Com- mercial is pleased to announce the promotion of two of its own into the roles of publisher and editor. Courtney Shuttle, a publisher and regional advertising director with Paxton Media Group, will step into the role of publisher at the Sun-Commer- cial, while Jenny Mc- Neece, the current assistant editor, has been named as the new editor-in-chief. Shuttle will now serve as the publisher and regional advertising director for three papers: the Sun-Com- mercial, the Princeton Daily Clarion and the Mount Carmel Register. Shuttle's career in newspa- pers began nearly six years ago as an advertising consultant at The Daily Clarion. She stepped into the role of regional advertising director in 2017. She lives in Princeton with her son, Dayton. McNeece started with the Sun-Commercial as the city editor in 2007 then was later named senior reporter and, in 2017, as assistant editor. She is a native of Mt. Carmel, Illinois, and a 1998 graduate of Mt. Carmel High School. Gayle Robbins Vincennes Sun-Commercial Editor's note: This column originally ran July 2. On Saturday we will celebrate America's birthday, although there are curmudgeons like me who argue that the "country" really had begun much earlier, well before that famous vote on July 4, 1776. But then, our argument is pretty much akin to saying birth begins at conception, however fuzzy in memory that moment might eventually prove to be to those intimately involved at the time. It's best to have a specific date on which to celebrate a birth, whether of a baby or a nation — or even a newspaper. The Sun-Commercial also celebrates its founding on July 4, although there had been at least one earlier edition of The Indiana Gazette, as the weekly paper was then called. On July 4, 1804, regular publication of Elihu Stout's newspaper began — and through multiple name changes, consoli- dations and ownership changes, it continues to be published all these years later. So July 4 is a day to celebrate beginnings. Yet I'm writing about a coming to an end on July 4. Saturday will be my last day with The Sun-Commercial. There comes a point when you just know it's time to go, and after much thought and consideration, I know that time is now for me. Other interests, but more importantly another obligation, have led to my making this decision now. At home I have a pile of books I want to read, and maybe a couple of books I want to write; I've carried around in my head the cast of characters for one book for so long now that I'm half afraid of setting them loose on the page, worried that if they get a taste of freedom they'll run off and I'll never see them again. I also want to trim the front- yard hedge, shoot baskets in the park, and go to a school musical to stay until the end, then jump up and shout, "Encore! Encore!" I want to watch the sun go down at the Goosepond, stand in the middle of a snowy street at dusk and read aloud a Robert Frost poem, and call up people I haven't spoken with in years and ask, "What's new?" I want to watch "The Maltese Falcon" five times in a row, write a scathing letter to the Baseball Hall of Fame over its exclusion of Gil Hodges, and have it out with my iPhone. I want to re-read "Walden," taking copious notes, then compare those notes to what I'd taken when I'd read it before, to measure how much I've changed — or not. I want to visit the graves of ancestors, to finally do something with all that research into Ernie Pyle's years at Indiana University, and take a Sunday-afternoon nap and not feel guilty about it. I want to spend a whole day doing nothing but listen to John Prine songs and feel really bad that he's gone but forever grateful that I know the music he left behind. I want to saunter, visit old haunts and new places, but make sure at day's end my head always hits my pillow at home. And I want to find out, once and for all, whether it's true you never forget how to ride a bicycle. More importantly, I want to spend more time with my mother, to trade in being a full-time newspaper man for being a full-time son again. The realization that for way too long I put work far too high on the priority list, at the expense of time with her, will haunt me to my grave. It is impossible to make up for lost time, but I plan to give it my best shot. I want some chance, however fleeting it should prove to be, to redress that imbalance, to satisfactorily fulfill my filial obligation to her. I came here almost 19 years ago, never planning to stay that long; I believed then, as, frankly, I believe now, that seven years is about the right length of time to stay in any one job. I didn't follow my own advice. I recently calculated all the hours worked during my tenure here, then divided that by a typical 2,080-hour work year, and found it came out to close to 25 years, a long time. I feel drained; it's an occupa- tional burden. I can't hazard a guess as to what's next for the newspaper industry as a whole or the Sun-Commercial in particular. These are tough times, which haven't been made any easier by the coronavirus. Big and small, newspapers are struggling, and there are no real answers out there, just more questions. I would wrap up my time here with this: It may not be what it once was, nor all that you would want it to be now, but the Sun-Commercial is still here publishing, still serving the community by printing the news. That's more than can be said for an increasing number of communities as "news deserts" continue their reach across the country, leaving residents thirsting for what they no longer have — a trusted source of local information. The only way the Sun-Com- mercial can continue to serve the community is if the community continues to support it, and the best way to support the Sun-Com- mercial is to keep reading it. Robbins retires as publisher, editor on anniversary of Sun-Commercial' Robbins McNeece Shuttle Sun-Commercial names new publisher, editor

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