A long journey
comes to an endBeloved veteran newspaper editor A.A. "Bud" Smyser died less than a week after the Star-Bulletin news staff made its symbolic trek from the old building on Kapiolani Boulevard to its new offices at Restaurant Row.
I walked beside Smyser much of the way, carrying the brown shopping bag containing his papers so he could walk without tiring. I put my arm around his shoulder and he around mine, both relieved we had made it this far.
He finally made it to the land of promise after being in limbo for two years over whether the paper would survive -- only to die soon afterward without taking part in the new enterprise.
A year later, the news staff is determined not to lose any more of its own, taking wage cuts to avoid layoffs. Sticking together has become a habit with a staff united in a common cause -- to save our jobs and our newspaper. I think Smyser would be proud.
--Pat Gee