A quieter newsroom without Don Seeley

The Mercury newsroom is noticeably quieter these days. First, there was the departure of our effervescent reporter Brandie Kessler, who took a job as a general assignment and special projects reporter at the York Daily Record.
Then, business editor Michelle Karas left us, taking her witty intellect and friendly demeanor with her on a move to Vermont to become editor of The Bennington Banner.
But the departure that has most noticeably widened a chasm of quiet in the newsroom is that of Don Seeley, who has left the full-time position of sports editor while continuing as a columnist and sports writer for The Mercury.
Don's words haven't left our pages and sites, but his humor is absent from our newsroom.
And for anyone who knows Don, that's a big absence.
I first met Don when he started here 32 years ago. Unlike those who have heard all his stories in the past tense, I was in the newsroom as his exploits and antics were occurring.
News not necessarily fit for print, we heard about the road trips as a baseball writer to Boyertown American Legion World Series in far-flung places like Fargo, N.D.; Rapid City, S.D.; and Stevens Point, Wis., and about after-hours exploits and what he had for dinner and how it was affecting him.
His personal habits in the newsroom were a source of constant jokes. One former employee kept a gas mask in his desk drawer and used it whenever Don was sitting near him.
Although I have certainly endured the moans, groans and expletives about his habits -- I even had to put a warning letter in his file once when a co-worker lodged a formal complaint -- I confess I have never been personally offended by Don in all the years I've known him.
His reputation for sexual innuendo is well documented, but he has never said or done anything to offend me. Ever. And that counts for years before 1998, when shortly after being named editor, I promoted him to sports editor.
Don likes to say I asked him to be sports editor, but he never accepted. My version of that story is that he told me he'd probably get fired if he took the job because he speaks his mind and "corporate" might not always like what he had to say. I told him that honesty would never cost him his job.
He also said he didn't think he would make a good sports editor, using that same line of logic that he wasn't a boss's boss.
I told him he was my choice because I put readers first. Then, and now, no one is more respected and loved among our readers than Don Seeley. His words, both in the stories and columns he writes and when he speaks to groups, touch people's hearts.
He covers sports with an obsession for stats and accuracy, an eye for personality and an intuitive ability to discover the inspiration inside the story. That makes him a reader's choice, and thus, my choice.
The lowest point in our relationship came in 2005 when Don was diagnosed with stage-four neck cancer. The next eight  months were emotionally difficult for all who knew him. The aggressive treatments nearly killed him, more than once.
Radiation robbed him of his voice and his ability to swallow.  I made an effort to call him every day to let him know the newsroom was in his corner in this fight. Some days he could whisper; some days only murmur acknowledgement that he appreciated the check-in.
He was hospitalized with a feeding tube infection, then back home where he watched the Food Channel incessantly because looking at food was the only way he had to enjoy it.  Toward the end of that long summer, his voice was back but he still couldn't eat solid foods.
My husband and I were hosting a picnic at our house around that time for a retiring co-worker. Don was there with his then-girlfriend, now wife, Kathy, and all he could eat was fresh mozzarella and olive oil while the rest of us had filet and potatoes. Nonetheless, he joked, entertained, reminisced, and was the life of the party.
That night reminded me of how quickly he could make people smile, and of how, even in the worst times for him personally, he was our newsroom narrator and clown.
Don has been cancer-free seven and a half years, and his "retirement" now is not motivated by the recurrence of disease. Rather, it's a chance to do more of what he loves best -- write, play golf, spend time with Kathy, his beloved daughters and grandson and friends.
You, the readers, are lucky. You still have his presence loud and clear in his coverage of high school sports and the stories that only he can find.
But here in the newsroom, it's quieter.  We  miss him.

A really cool idea, or two

"Do you know what would be really cool?"
These words from Mercury reporter Brandie Kessler were usually followed by:
"I know you probably don't want to do this, and you can say this is a dumb idea -- you're the boss, you do what you want, but I was just thinking wouldn't it be cool if ..."
A soliloquy along those lines preceded a number of really cool ideas that we have embraced at The Mercury and turned to successes for this newspaper and the community of the Pottstown area.
We collected more than 16,000 food items for area food pantries and nearly 1,000 containers of laundry detergent by joining efforts with TownSquare bloggers to spread the word about dwindling food supplies last winter.
Cool idea.
We created a Pinterest board of Most Wanted criminals in area police departments, getting pictures out to the public on a platform they use. Tips have led to arrests, which make police happy and make us proud.
Cool idea.
We are posting cards with donors' names to Operation Holiday on the window of The Mercury Community Media Lab as a colorful display and a thank you to the readers who send us thousands of dollars for our holiday giving program.
Another cool idea.
Brandie's coolest idea, at least in her mind, was raising money for the Pottstown Relay for Life by taking donations to pie a Mercury employee in the face at the Bark for Life event. The 2008 collection raised $2,700 and gave Brandie the opportunity to throw a banana cream pie in my face.

 I have had some cool ideas for Brandie, as well. One of them was sending her on the river with the Schuylkill River Sojourn last summer to live-blog four days of the river journey, traveling in her kayak, tweeting and taking video along the way.

Dedicated police reporter that she is, she fought me on leaving the office for a week to enjoy the outdoors.
I prevailed, and the blog was a gem.
Another idea I recently had was that she apply for a reporting job at our larger sister paper, the York Daily Record/Sunday News. I had learned about the job from colleagues at York, and I told her it was an opportunity she should not pass up. At least go for the interview, I insisted.
Again, the retorts that there are too many stories in Pottstown still to write, too much work still to be done.
But she went, and the rest, as they say, is history. Sunday was her last official day at The Mercury. She stopped in Monday though and I expect to see her again this week.
Brandie is one of a kind.
Her passion for reporting, her dedication to this craft, her persistence for excellence and her fearsome loyalty to her colleagues and others around her is unmatched.
That's why we already miss her.

There's a warning here, too, for our friends at YDR: Get ready for cool ideas.
And watch out.
You could end up with banana cream on your face.