Wednesday, April 10, 2002
|
Wednesday, April 10, 2002 |
|
Novice learned a lot of lessons from Hamrick, including the art of objectivity [The way I look at the world of news reporting has suddenly changed. Objectivity is no longer objective. The man who wrote of other people's sadness and successes is no longer around to write of the sadness our community is feeling or how silly it is that a community is mourning somebody "so insignificant in the bigger scheme of things." Dave Hamrick, the first news reporter I ever dealt with in the real world after graduating from college, is gone. In 1979, I was an inexperienced, know-it-all, first-year expert who was going to change the world. In my position as communications coordinator at the Clayton County Chamber of Commerce, I was tasked with telling the Clayton County story to the press, and Dave Hamrick was editor of a long-gone relic, the Southside Sun. Dave had the patience and understanding to put up with my incessant phone calls about this Chamber event or that seminar or this stand taken by the county chamber. Dave always listened quietly and wrote. Not always what my boss wanted. You see, Dave was objective. A lesson any first-year PR person needed to learn. Dave was a good teacher. My roommate at the time, Tom Collins, was a good friend of Dave Hamrick's. Having known Dave for a long time, Tom would always tell me to "learn from Dave, he has a lot of experience." I took Tom's advice and tried to learn all I could from my reporter friend. Tom has since passed away of cancer and I remember Dave saying after his funeral, "Tom's better now and we'll see him and eat barbecue with him again one day." Little did Dave know it would be sooner [rather] than later. Over the years, I lost touch with Dave and Terri [Dave's wife], who I also worked with at the Clayton News Daily. We got older and grayer. I always enjoyed visiting with Dave through his columns in The Citizen and occasionally seeing him in the community. But we lost touch and I feel bad it's too late now to rekindle a friendship built out of Dave's patience and willingness to help. Terri has lost her best friend. With time she will come to realize what a legacy Dave left behind. The many letters in The Citizen is evidence of that legacy. I may have lost touch with Dave over the years, but I will always remember the impact Dave made in my professional life. I appreciate it. And Dave and Tom are talkin' politics over a plate with slaw. Dale Georgia dale@happydogstudios.com
|
||