We're taking names

     Good evening, 919 Gang. My first exposure to Downton Abbey was the movie we saw today. My reaction to the movie? I have never seen so many unemployed people in one spot. At least they were not homeless.

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KATHY RODONDI writes:

     In response to Preston Turegano’s observation yesterday that the U-T website no longer lists newsroom contacts or email addresses: On the main U-T page, click Sections in the top left corner, scroll down to About Us, scroll down again to Contact Us, and click on Newsroom staff contacts: Reporters & editors. They’re there.

MATT HALL writes:

Hi Preston, nothing’s afoot at the U-T other than quality journalism by quality people! Here’s our staff contact list: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/contact-newsroom And here are other numbers: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/contact-us

     REBER: As Kathy and Matt point out (thank you both), the contact list is available, as before. There are various routes to those email addresses and phone numbers. My preference is to click on “Contact the Union-Tribune” at the bottom of the home page.

The question: How come Preston didn’t find the list, and how come I didn’t find it when I checked a few hours after he did? Possible answers: 1. The U-T had some temporary electronic/digital meltdown, or 2. Preston and I almost simultaneously slipped into our temporary insanity costumes. Either answer is possible.

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JIM FARBER writes:

In times of fires and other mayhem, this might be of some relief. Went to Santa Fe and Las Vegas New Mexico for a gathering about Fred Harvey and his historic hotels. The latest a grand reopening of the Castenada in Las Vegas NM. All for Glenda and Creators. Had dinner with the oldest living Harvey Girl! 97 and full of stories. Here is a postcard I created for the story.

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RICK SMITH writes:

I'm always anxious at this time of year. We're on a cruise, but my thoughts are continually about Oct. 25, 2003, the day our house burned to the ground, except for the chimney.

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     REBER: Happy Birthday wishes for Oct. 31 go out tonight for Charlie Starr and Kelly Thornton.

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     REBER: I apologize for the early deadline, but I am hurting. Started to say I am “under the weather,” but that has a nasty ring to it these days.

Jack J. Reber

P.O. Box 2239

Ramona, CA 92065-0938

United States

Be gentle, Mother Nature

          Good evening, 919 Gang. It’s nervous time for a lot of people. The U-T report winds as strong as 60-75 mph could hit the mountain areas early tomorrow (Wednesday). Several school districts in East County have cancelled classes for tomorrow because of fire danger and the possibility the power will be off.

          We have been warned by phone and email that our electricity may be shut off. If I don’t file tomorrow night, you will know why.

          I would like to hear from members in Central and Northern California, hoping the fires in that part of the state have missed them.

BRIAN CLARK writes:

        I hope your home - and those of all the Rebergram readers - remains safe from the fires.

Meanwhile, back here in the Heartland [Wisconsin], it snowed about three inches last night, resulting in some lovely white landscapes this morning. The hood of my car had nearly all the autumn leaves covered -- though many remain in the trees because this is an early snow. Most of it will probably be gone by this time tomorrow, though the high temp today is only supposed to be 40 degrees. I shall soon be dusting off my skis.

          In any case, I ‘specially like the red berries dusted with snow, too.

It’s been an exceedingly wet and sloppy year in these parts -- with flooding more of a problem than fires. But the Midwest does have its catastrophic infernos. And I’m not referring to the wind-fueled Great Chicago Fire, which occurred in October of 1871, killed 300 and displaced more than 100,000. (It’s still debated whether Ms. O’Leary’s cow really kicked over a lantern and started the blaze.)

          At almost exactly the same time -- near Wisconsin’s northeast border with the Upper Peninsula of Michigan - there occurred a much worse conflagration that got little ink. Known as the Peshtigo Fire, it burned around 1.2 million acres, killed between 1,500 and 2,500 people, wiped out whole communities and is still considered the deadliest wildfire in U.S. history. Wind was also a major factor. Yikes.

CHUCK BOYD writes:

The oddest part of the Red Flag Warning maps to me here in South Carolina was to see humidity at less than 5%! Here - especially in Charleston - we are used to humidity approaching 100% often during the summer months. Day after sweaty day.

          Hot, hazy and humid is the mantra.

A good summer day that has the weather people on TV really grinning is when the "wetness in the air" plummets to 70% or even 60% and we all rejoice and use our patios again or dine outdoors at restaurants.

Be careful what you wish for!

I understand, low humidity there makes for an extremely dangerous situation that, along with horrific Santa Ana winds, has the makings of nightmares and loss. My thoughts are with all of you.

PAMELA DUGAN writes:

Fingers crossed, Jack, that you (and others in San Diego County) are spared the fiery wrath of Santa Ana winds.

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PRESTON TUREGANO writes:

The Union-Tribune’s Subscribers Services department that handles circulation delivery and subscriber cost is still located in the Philippines. Like India, the P.I. has become a call center for major credit card companies, retailers, and wireless phone services. After the Copley sale of the U-T, Subscriber Services moved from Mission Valley to Des Moines, Iowa. It later relocated to Panama City, Panama, and after that to Tucson, before moving to the 15-times-zones-away P.I. Meanwhile, U-T Subscriber Billing moved to Phoenix. That address is on subscription bills sent via snail mail (like mine), which this year cost me $130.

As of today, the U-T website no longer lists any individual newsroom contacts and their email addresses, nor does it list anyone with Circulation. I did manage to see some U-T newsroom managers by Googling “Union-Tribune newsroom contacts.” They are listed as “Union-Tribune Leadership.” Still, as an incurable cynic, I say something is afoot at the U-T. As for Leslie Wolf Branscomb’s U-T subscription bill for $265.65, I can’t, or won’t, do that. It will cut into my Merle Norman moisturizer (for males!) budget.

MICHELE DAVIS writes:

For Leslie Wolf Branscomb:

When I canceled the UT subscription they kept offering me a rate of $0.25 per week to resubscribe. At first they offered me a rate of $0.50 per week. When I declined they offered me the lower rate. I keep getting an email from the LAT for the same $0.25 a week.

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BOB LAURENCE writes:

I have a bulletin on trends in the newspaper business.

          The main man in my longtime favorite barber shop, Raymond's on University Avenue, was cutting my hair. He knows where I used to work, so he filled me in on a development in the trade.

          I just dropped my subscription to the Union-Tribune, he said. Why, I asked.

Because nobody ever reads it, he said. I’ve taken it for years, he said, but lately nobody reads it. It sits in the chair for people to read while they wait for a haircut, but lately nobody touches it. It sits there all day while they read their phones.

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          REBER: You know I don’t print jokes or cartoons, but here’s one that is all over the internet today. I keep bumping into it. I think it’s because I have a lot of friends who identify with this. Stay tuned – I plan to run another cartoon in about 10 years.

          ERNIE COWAN forwards:

Jack J. Reber

P.O. Box 2239

Ramona, CA 92065-0938

United States

Red Flag Warning

          Good evening, 919 Gang. A friend sent me a link to a National Weather Service page that has a Red Flag Warning for my area from 11 p.m. Tuesday to 6 p.m. Thursday. The advisory says, “Strong Santa Ana Wind event (potentially strongest so far this season) to bring widespread critical to locally extremely critical fire weather conditions.”

          The map shows the threatened area is all of San Diego County except some desert regions and a VERY thin strip along the coast. See for yourself:

https://www.weather.gov/sgx/

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LESLIE WOLF BRANSCOMB writes:

Hello, yet another entry in the endless discussion about U-T subscription rates. I'm sorry, but...

Recently I received an emailed bill from the U-T for our home paper delivery. We get it daily, as always, ever since my parents moved to San Diego in early 1960, before I was born. (We were an Evening Tribune family then, back in the day when Dad came home from work at 5 p.m. and read the evening paper with a martini in hand while Mom made dinner. But I digress...)

          The bill is $265.65 for a year. Yes, still a steal at approximately 73 cents a day, but more than I was expecting. I went looking for my most recent bills, and while I couldn't find 2018 quickly, I did turn up my 2017 bill -- $161.28. That is supposed to be the U-T employee "retiree" rate. That's a big price hike. Anyone else have this experience?

          The last time we did a go-round about this in the 919, we learned that our subscriptions are being handled out of town, and maybe out of country. Is this the going rate now for ex-U-T employees? I'd be interested in hearing your experiences, since, as I recall the last time, we were all being charged wildly disparate rates, for no apparent reason. 

          To be clear, I am talking about daily delivery. The smack of the newspaper hitting your driveway. I don't really care about digital, but that seems to be included in the subscription price, and (sshhh, don't tell my husband) I actually find that useful at work.

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DON BAUDER writes:

Jack: I wish I had listened to Walt Baranger. About 35 years ago I had made money on NY Times stock. Back in the early 2000s, I had written several pieces for the Reader on the coming collapse of print newspapers, primarily big city dailies. Still, I bought some NY Times stock again at $16 circa 2005. I figured if anyone could make money on online papers, it would be the Times. But it wasn’t happening and I sold it at about $9. Now it. is at $31.73. Sigh.

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          REBER: We wish a Happy Birthday, Oct. 29, to John Cannon. John had a very successful U-T career, marred only by the fact that his desk was right outside my office, which meant he had to put up with me more than the other ACEs did.

Jack J. Reber

P.O. Box 2239

Ramona, CA 92065-0938

United States