A class act

 

          Good evening, 919 Gang.

 

JUDITH MORGAN writes:

Ah, Mitch Himaka:  one of the great gentlemen and unselfish reporters I met on joining the staff of the SD Union in 1964. I remember his encouragement and smile as we walked from 919 E 2nd to the cop shop near the harbor, where I worked the 3 pm to midnight shift with Pliny Castanian. So many pros from whom I learned so much about San Diego and what worked in this city, or didn’t. Photographers Thane McIntosh, Phil McMahan, Charlie Sick, Danny Tichonchuk, Al Sund. City desk’s Al Palmer, Bill Parry, Paul James , Charlie Ross, Jim McVicar. My desk was in a row with Bryant Evans, Joe Stone , Lester Bell ... all generous storytellers of irrepressible humor.  But Mitch was the first to make me feel at home, in his low-key way. (It was Al JaCoby who corrected me, bellowing “His first name is NOT Mitchie! And his last name is not Maka.”)

Soon I was introduced to sharp reporters on The Tribune side, like Bob Witty, Ralph Bennett and Neil Morgan.

And yes, Jack, I, too, grew up in a household of journalists. My parents met in the city room of the Oklahoma City Times, where my dad covered the statehouse and crime, which were mostly separate events.

 

          REBER: I love her last line: “mostly separate events.”

 

CRAIG MACDONALD writes:

It's been great hearing from & about Mitch Himaka. It brings joy seeing his name. As a journalist, he was the real deal--intelligent, analytical, genuine--able to size up any situation, no matter how complex, then explain it so anyone could understand. You could see his talent shine under deadline. Always smiling & soft-spoken, he was a team player, who went out of his way to help other reporters. His suggestions made our stories better. Mitch, for many of us, you were a role model, sharing your skills & friendship. Many Thanks!

 

BILL CALLAHAN writes:

Mitch Himaka was a class act as a competitor on the courthouse beat and as a friend. And I always enjoyed going out on assignments with Phil McMahan and his dry wit.

 

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BOB WITTY writes:

Jack, here is a link to a great story by Paul Pringle of the LA Times. In earlier days, he headed the LA bureau of Copley News Service when I was editor. Part of the amazing story is the back and forth between Paul and two of his editors at the Times.

One of the editors saved the editing comments he made on Paul’s stories. If anyone has a problem finding the story, they can google Bad City and Paul Pringle. There’s also a story of high praise for Paul from the NYT.

https://lat.ms/3zpqDoK

 

          REBER: Thank you, Bob. That is an interesting read.

 

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REBER: We kick off a new month by wishing Happy Birthday (Aug. 1) to Bobbi Ignelzi and Don Kohlbauer

 

 

Jack J. Reber

P.O. Box 2239

Ramona, CA 92065-0938

United States

We like Mitch

 

          Good evening, 919 Gang.

 

          PHIL McMAHAN writes:

Mitch Himaka asked if the U-T camera car was the one I took him on a “test drive” at the beach. It might have been, we had a fleet of them. The rest of the story is: We were responding to a report of a drowning at Mission Bay. When we arrived we could see several persons gathered at the water’s edge. Since the scene was quite a distance from the parking area, I decided to drive across the grass and sand to get to the scene as quickly as possible. Mitch questioned if that was a good idea and I responded that I had seen several TV commercials showing a Corvair driving along the beach and we should be OK. Apparently the beach the commercial was shot at was a different beach. As soon as we left the grassy area, the car bogged down in the sand. We jumped out of the car and ran the rest of the way to the water’s edge where a team was attempting, unsuccessfully, to revive the drowned victim. After Mitch did his interviews and I made photographs, we returned to the car and tried to get it out of the sand, we rocked back and forth which only buried the car deeper into the sand. I radioed in to the Photo Desk, and Charlie Sick suggested that I let some air out of the tires. I told Charlie that we could not see the tires because they were buried. Charlie called for a tow truck. I’m impressed that at age 9o, Mitch can recall that event. Not one of my best decisions.

 

          JOHN MARTIN writes:

It was great seeing Mitch Himaka’s 919 note the other day. His wonderful smile and positive attitude are two of my fondest memories of my early days in journalism in the 1950s at the Union-Trib. Mitch, what a great career you’ve had. Congratulations.

 

 

Jack J. Reber

P.O. Box 2239

Ramona, CA 92065-0938

United States

Easy money

 

          Good evening, 919 Gang. I knew him for many years, but we rarely saw each other. If we were traveling through Oregon I would stop at his home near Rogue River. He refused to come back to California. 

          He was pretty much hand-to-mouth his entire life. His wife had divorced him, but they continued to live together for financial reasons.

          I was in his living room one time when he pulled out a small box and showed me a credit card from the box. “I can go into any bank in town and get $500 with this card,” he said. He showed me another card which offered a $1,000 advance. It looked to me like there were more credit cards in that box, but I didn’t ask questions or make any comments. None of my business.

          After he died, his ex-wife called me. She had been opening his mail and doing some arithmetic. She had learned that he had a bit more than $32,000 in credit card debt. She wondered what to do. His assets amounted to an old horse and a Dodge pickup truck that was even older. In other words, zip.

          I told her to get a lawyer. She told me later the lawyer wrote a bunch of letters explaining the situation and the credit card companies dropped everything.

 

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          CHUCK BOYD writes:

I have a few photos of the U-T company Photo Cars. And many memories.

When our first baby was born, my folks drove from Charleston, S.Car., to San Diego, and I noticed Mom was taking only a few photos with her amateur camera.

I posed holding her camera by the U-T "official" car and she explained she took pictures coming West but was saving the rest of the roll for their return cross-country drive!

I bought her 10 rolls of film AND included Kodak processing.

          As Phil mentioned, note the Stan Griffin-inspired dress code!

 

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          PRESTON TUREGANO writes:

On two occasions in the past 10-15 years, I, like Ron Hutcherson, have experienced PC blue screen crash/hack. I immediately shut down (unplugged) my PC for about five minutes. After rebooting, all was well. I returned to Internet space never having to be confronted by hostage takers.

 

          REBER: That’s called a “cold restart,” and it will fix a lot of problems. I had an experience similar to Ron’s maybe six months ago. I installed a new version of Outlook. The computer worked fine, but the new Outlook was a mess. In olden times I would simply delete Outlook, insert the program disk and start over. Not these days. You download the software and if you want to re-install, you have to buy a second copy.

          I hired a fix-it company and the guy accessed my computer remotely and solved the problems. The cost was $45, which I thought fair. Down the road I discovered it was a recurring monthly fee. Ouch! I cancelled but by that time I had spent $90.

 

 

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RICK SMITH writes:

Good to hear from Gentleman Mitch Himaka, a Tribune colleague in the 'sixties and the pride of San Diego High, class of '50.

 

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          REBER: Tonight we wish Happy Birthday, July 30, to Joe Holly and Kelly Murphy.

 

Jack J. Reber

P.O. Box 2239

Ramona, CA 92065-0938

United States