Janet Lowe

          Another sad report, 919 Gang. Gina Lubrano tipped me to Janet Lowe’s Facebook page where I read this written about noon by Rise Johnson:

“Said good bye to my mom this morning. I do not know how to begin to thank so many friends and family who have been there with us through this long and difficult journey, especially the past year. Thank you so much surrounding us with love and support. Now the struggle is over and she can Rest In Peace”

          REBER: I confirmed through another post that Janet Lowe is the person Rise is writing about. I don’t know any more details about her death.

          Janet worked for the Tribune from 1980-1990 and was business editor when she resigned. Her bio for the 919 Gang Directory was written many years ago. She talked about working for FEMA after she left the Trib and she mentioned she had written 19 books. She also said her ovarian cancer had been in remission for two years.

          Janet was a real pro and a person many will remember fondly.

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          REBER: We read about Bill Birch having health problems, so I wrote to check up on him. The reply:

Hello Jack,

This is Lorrie, Bill’s daughter. He’s been on the rollercoaster from hell. The heart attack, two-week stay in ICU, rehab for three weeks, home for nine hours, back to hospital for breathing difficulties (pneumonia is diagnosed) and eight days in the hospital, back to rehab, roughly there 30 hours and back to the hospital, another week in the hospital and he’s back in rehab as of Monday. He’s lost anything he gained from the first rehab. Hopefully this time round he’ll get stronger and will be home in 10-15 days.

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   MIRIAM RAFTERY writes:

          I was saddened to hear of Rex Salmon’s passing. I didn’t know him well but his wit and wisdom will be missed.

          Regarding AB 5, this cartoon has a pithy satirical summation of the situation:

We are hearing of community theaters closing down, artists out of work, a ventriloquist silence, and of course many writers and smaller publishers panicked as year’s end approaches. Work for many is vanishing. I’ve yet to hear of anyone actually helped in the creative fields, other than some writers at the L.A. Times who have been made employees. For smaller companies on limited budgets, especially nonprofits that can’t just jack up prices to cover rising costs, this is not an option. Now what?

          Interestingly after much grousing on a Facebook thread on this, I actually heard from Lorena Gonzalez who reached out and now says she will meet with me, after my prior calls and emails to her staffers before passage of the bill fell into a black hole. I will let folks here know if she seems amenable to any changes to lessen the impact on freelance journalists, other creative people protected by copyright laws, news publishers and nonprofits.

This is one New Year I am not looking forward to, due to AB 5.

CHERYL CLARK writes:

There’s a Facebook page with tons of information about AB5, the progress toward getting it repealed/amended, the lawsuit, etc.

And the merits of incorporation to get around this ill-advised disaster.

Go to "California Freelance Writers United"

The administrators and participants of this page are in active negotiation with Lorena and other Sacramento reps to explain how damaging this rule would be. I’m not really affected, because I won’t write 35 stories a year for one organization, and frankly don’t want to write more than that because my stories are much bigger projects. But it does set a dangerous precedent that other states are trying to follow now, including New Jersey and New York.

Anyway join this FB site and get more information, especially on progress the organizers might be making

Randy Dotinga of VOSD (and also MedPage Today) has posted this list on Twitter of media organizations that have cut freelance journalists altogether if they are in California, or limited their work.

         

          Dotinga wrote:

I’ve compiled a list of clients that – per sources -- have cut CA freelance journalists or limited their workloads due to #AB5. There are more. The list is incomplete. But it still tells a grim story.

Clients that are cutting CA freelance journalists or limiting their workloads due to #AB5:

1.           Vox/SB Nation 2. Western Outdoor News 3. SF Weekly 4. SF Examiner 5. Forbes 6. Doityourself 7. FamilyMinded 8. Scripted 9. Textbroker 10. Business Insider 11. San Diego Union-Tribune 12. Proofit 13. Rev 14. Xist Publishing 15. Zergnet 16. Reuters 17. Variety 18. Considerable 19. Sacramento News & Review 20. San Francisco Chronicle 21. Travelingmom 22. Medium 23. Bustle Digital Group 24. The Manual 25. Evolve Media (incl. ComingSoon) 26. Sonoma Media (incl. Santa Rosa Press Democrat) 27. Page One Power 28. Insider.

I'll add more as they come.

Later this week, I'll list clients that are hiring staff due to #AB5. I know of three. THREE.

TOM GABLE writes:

Don’t know if this will work. I have a subscription. PDF attached. The politicians didn’t understand the impact on so many people, from writers and photographers to translators and more.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/31/technology/california-freelance-gig-workers.html

          REBER: I believe you have to be a Times subscriber to read that story. Tom sent a PDF version, and I will attach that to the email. It will not be available on the web site. The blog does not permit attachments.

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EMMET PIERCE writes:

I always appreciated the way Rex Salmon took the initiative to organize 919 Gang gatherings at the Black Angus Steakhouse on Friars Road. They've provided a wonderful way for U-T veterans to stay in touch. I wish Rex could have been there for the recent reunion. He was a great colleague. We can raise a toast for him at the next one. Thank you Rex. We'll miss you and your wonderful sense of humor.

TIM WILSON writes:

          After 50 years, I still share my memories with friends and family of Rex’s ability to sound like any creature in a barnyard full of animals.

          The first time I heard Rex do that, he was mimicking a donkey. We were under a tight deadline and it broke the tension beautifully.

I laughed so hard it hurt. It was such a surprise coming out of nowhere, and his timing was absolutely one of a comedic genius.

Rex was a wonderful, talented guy and someone I will never forget. His sense of humor was legendary.

RICK SMITH writes:

Pat Stalnaker and I have been dear friends since the seventh grade at what then was Lincoln Junior High. We grew with the school. As seniors at Lincoln High, Pat was editor of "The Buzz", the school newspaper. I was the sports editor. A few years ago I enjoyed a Longhorn Restaurant lunch with Pat and his old pal, Rex Salmon.

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          REBER: Tonight we wish a Happy Birthday, Jan. 1, to Edna Whiteley. Edna, how about writing and telling us what you are doing these days?

Jack J. Reber

P.O. Box 2239

Ramona, CA 92065-0938

United States

We've lost six members

          Good evening, 919 Gang. I heard from two members today that they did not receive last night’s email. Both are Cox customers. Hmmm, coincidence or evil plot? Either way, I want to hear from you when you have a problem. And you can read our posts for the past nine years at http://919gang.blogspot.com/

          While checking to make sure the two members still were connected, I discovered a lot of people are not receiving the nightly email because, I presume, they changed email addresses and did not tell me. If you are in touch with Sandi Dolbee, John Gaines, Ray Kipp, Janet Lavelle, Jim Michaels or Bob Weaver, please ask them to email me.

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JERRY RIFE writes:

Our careers moved in tandem, Rex Salmon's and mine. In the early sixties, we shared the journalistic training ground of The Daily Aztec at SDSU - Rex as editor-in-chief and I as chief reporter. We shared a love of words and a love of photography.

We graduated around the same time but here my memory falters. Did Rex go first to work for a North County newspaper? Anyhow, we both ended up at the Union-Tribune - Rex working at the copy desk next to the photo lab door through which I would dash or amble depending on the assignment.

Our physical and professional spaces came closer together when Rex moved to the photo editor's desk. Together we would scrutinize negatives through a loupe or discuss where to crop a print. He enjoyed working with wacky photographers - the perennial children of the press. And we certainly enjoyed working with Rex.

After leaving the Union-Tribune, Facebook became the platform for sharing our passion for images and the turn of a phrase. Lately, I have been trimming down my photo archive as Jan and I prepare to move. Plowing through four decades of newspaper photography, I came across this picture of Rex covering President Kennedy at a 1963 SDSU graduation. Back where we began, Rex and I, on this wonderful journalistic journey.

Bien viaje, amigo.

Rex is at the right rear, holding a camera

 

          REBER: Patrick Stalnaker is not a member but he has known Rex Salmon a long time. He has identified the third man in the photo I printed twice. He writes:

I was a long-time friend of Rex Salmon since we were journalism students at SDSU and were editors of The Daily Aztec. We actually met on the very first day of classes for both of us at the then-college in the spring of 1959. In fact, we had three classes together because we both had low priority numbers to register for classes. We remained friends from that day forward. I loved the man. Anyway, you featured a photo of Jerry Rife, Rex and a third fellow on the right. That was Marvin Humphrey, a cartoonist I talked into being our editorial cartoonist for the fall semester of 1962 when I was editor of the Aztec and Rex was my managing editor. In a subsequent semester Rex was editor and I was chief copy editor. We had a lot of fun putting that paper out five days a week--even though it was printed at the Encinitas Coast Dispatch which was owned then by a guy named Archie Hicks. Rex or I drove up there every day to paste it up and get it out--usually four pages. Rex was a uniquely decent, honest, funny man I will never forget!

LOLA SHERMAN writes:

I am behind in catching up with my e-mail and just spotted the news about Rex. Please give Lynn my most-heartfelt condolences. Rex was the consummate "nice guy." He never failed to ask about everything, from my adopted family - which he had photographed years ago - to all my pets. He will be so sorely missed. And, yes, I will try to be at any memorial service whenever it is.

LEN NOVARRO writes:

I was visiting my son-in-law and family in Dallas. The first thing I saw in opening my email was the news about Rex. I am truly saddened. Although we only occasionally came together in Trib gatherings, his upbeat personality was always a reminder of how warm and ingratiating a personality he was -- and never changing. The last time I saw him was two months ago at the Longhorn gathering -- outgoing, gracious and fun to talk to. I will always remember that person.

LYNN SALMON writes:

Jack, thank you for posting the new picture of Rex. This has always been one of my favorites because it describes him perfectly, no words needed. Such an innocent, mischievous “I get in trouble if I dood it, but I’ll dood it anyway” picture.

I am trying to remember who is the third person with Jerry Rife in the picture you sent me, but looking closer I realized that they are discussing Rex’s win in a safety contest. If you look closely at the newspaper over Rex’s right shoulder you’ll see a man driving with a skeleton sitting beside him instead of a girl. The title is “A Date With Death”. It’s been so long since the last time he told me the story I can’t remember if the driver was Jerry or his best friend Bob Ewalt. Do you remember Jerry? It was either based on the danger of speeding, or drinking or both and then driving. Rex loved to tell me how he borrowed the skeleton from the science lab and the looks he got carrying it across the campus. For someone who was the most gentle soul I’ve ever known he had such an impish sense of humor! He was so proud that he had won the first prize in the contest.

Thank you everyone for your memories of Rex, it makes my heart smile.

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JONI HALPERN writes:

I can understand why Ernie Cowan is complaining. It is devastating to lose half of one’s freelance assignments from any source because of a change in the state law, namely AB5, the law affecting classification of independent contractors. But I would like to offer the notion that the idea of a “nanny state” is not the reasoning behind this. Over the last few decades, it has become customary for employers in nearly all industries to escape federal and state obligations to workers by classifying them as independent contractors. The original notion of “independent contractor” really was more like the ABC Test of AB5.

But today we are faced with two stark facts: (1) the gig economy is a major contributor to income inequality, which is driving individuals farther and farther down the economic class scale by destabilizing their employment and robbing them of even minimal income protections for illness, disability, or retirement; (2) state and local governments are faced with the needs of people who cannot help themselves when they are temporarily ill or disabled, or when they are the victims of business downturns or global competition. Meantime, their employers have used the term “independent contractor” to escape tax, wage and benefit obligations that should have been contributed to help workers through difficult times. AB5 is not a perfect attempt to address these problems, but it is a start, and it probably will be subject to a lot of good arguments in court cases that will sculpt its future interpretation.

We are facing massive shifts in our economic lives, to say nothing of our cultural, civic, and social lives. Government is not perfect, but neither is the employer whose only response to AB5 is to cut in half the work his freelancers depend on, when there are other options. From the individual writer’s perspective, Jack Reber’s idea of a syndicate or some other business entity that houses and offers the work of journalists could conceivably be created to meet one of the major exceptions to AB5: the “business-to-business” and “referral agency” exemptions. Maybe one of the 919 gang get-togethers could invite a lawyer practicing in this area to speak to members over lunch. As the economy changes, we may do better if we find a way to help each other, rather than decrying every possible government remedy as unworthy.

GLENN GRANT writes:

I'm glad to see that Ernie Cowan had the chutzpah to voice what I've been thinking about AB 5 and Lorena Gonzales. It just proves to me that you should know what a politician stands for before you vote along party lines.

          REBER: One of the difficulties of AB5 is it covers a multitude of industries, and even within an industry there are variations.

          For example, if you check the list of “reporters and editors” on the U-T web site, you will spot Richard Lederer, who is identified as a freelance columnist. If he’s a freelancer, he’s not a staffer, right? In reality, anyone who has done a weekly column on the same topic for seven years for the same newspaper is not a free-lancer. You might call him a “contract writer,” but actually he is an employee even if you pay him at a freelancer’s scale.

          Joni mentioned the “business-to-business” exemption to AB5. What if the free-lancer incorporated? Would that meet the business-to-business criterion? Years ago, our No. 2 son was hired by Calloway Golf to build a computerized inventory system. They didn’t want to put him on the payroll, they wanted him as an independent contractor. Before he agreed, he incorporated. I don’t remember the details, but he indicated there were financial rewards.

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DAVID FARMER writes:

I spotted this literary reference in a headline in The Los Angeles Times: "Love in the Time of DACA." I believe it's a nod to "Love in the Time of Cholera," a 1985 novel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and a 2007 film. I'm sure it's a coincidence that there's a character in the book named Lorenzo Daza. But quien sabe?

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          REBER: Tonight we wish a Happy Birthday to Steve Perez on Dec. 31.

Jack J. Reber

P.O. Box 2239

Ramona, CA 92065-0938

United States