< Previous10 | The Daily News | CELEBRATING 180 YEARS | 1842 • 2022 BEHIND THE LENS Q&A WITH FORMER DAILY NEWS PHOTO EDITOR KEVIN BARTRAM Kevin Bartram was a staff photographer, then photo editor at The Galveston County Daily News from 1988 until 2006. He is currently an editorial and commercial photographer in the Dallas/ Fort Worth area after working for newspapers and wire services in California and Connecticut before returning to Texas in 2015. Clients include Topgolf, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Bell Helicopter, DJI Drones and ESPN along with many publications and television networks. Bartram is also a certified snowboard instructor and has worked at ski resorts in California, Vermont and Connecticut. What was your favorite story to cover for The Daily News? My favorite thing to cover for The Daily News was just life around Galveston County. Everything from breaking news and big events to photographing people going about their daily lives. I always looked forward to the annual events around the county, things like the Galveston County Fair & Rodeo, Mardi Gras and Dickens on The Strand. There was a variety of things to cover around Galveston County that I have not experienced anywhere else. Are there certain photos that are particularly memorable to you? There are several from my 18 years at The Daily News, I was always amazed at how many stories of national interest happen in Galveston County. One of the most memorable is an image of off-duty Galveston police officer D.J. Alvarez watching the 2005 baseball World Series on a TV in his drive- way. The photo was published in The Daily News and also as a two-page spread in Sports Illustrated. Other memorable images are my coverage of the Robert Durst story and the massive evacuation ahead of Hurricane Rita in 2005. One especially memorable photo was from a house fire on Avenue O where flames erupted from the front of the house just as I arrived and firefighters were attempting to enter the building. What does it mean to be a photojournalist? A photojournalist, especially at a community newspaper like The Daily News, captures and records life and events to share with the readers. There are so many people who have a story to tell, it is up to the photojournalist to find those people and share their stories. A photojournalist is more than just a photographer; a photojournalist is aware of events in the community and proactively covers those events without waiting to be assigned. How do subjects respond to your camera? How do you persuade them to let you photograph them in unscripted, sometimes unflattering moments? The vast majority of interactions with subjects are positive, but there are times when reluctant subjects are encountered. Sometimes I take a few minutes to explain the importance of the images I’m trying to capture and that helps a subject to relax and open up, and other times the story is of such importance or urgency that I go ahead and take photographs in spite of the protests of the people involved. One very important skill for a photojournalist is to be able to blend into the environment and take photographs without becoming part of the situation. There’s no persuasion involved when photographing people in unscripted or unflattering moments, at those times the job is to record events as they unfold in front of the camera. Have you covered a historically important event? If so, did you sense the event’s significance at the time? The Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy and its impact on Gal- veston County was a historic event. Much of The Daily News readership was affected by that event, with many Galveston County residents working at NASA and having connections to the crew. As soon as I learned of the accident, I knew it was historically significant. What is the role of professional editorial photography in the age of the camera phone? Why do we still need professional photographers, assuming we do, when we’re theoretically all photographers? The camera phone has made photography vastly more ac- cessible to everyone and social media allows for immedi- ate distribution of those images, but I believe professional editorial photographers are still needed to provide honest, trustworthy images of people and events. A professional editorial photographer will often produce images in situ- ations where people with camera phones will not go. It’s also important that photojournalists produce images that are an honest, unretouched look at events, whether locally or around the world. KEVIN BARTRAM/THE DAILY NEWS FILE PHOTOS CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE LEFT: Robert Durst, foreground, and attorney Chip Lewis sit in the 212th District Court on Dec. 18, 2003, during a bond reduction hearing; D.J. Alvarez, right, and his neighbors watch Game 2 of the World Series on a television set up in front of his home in League City on Oct. 23, 2005; people carrying gas cans line up at a station along Interstate 45 in Huntsville on Sept. 23, 2005. Many evacuees ran out of gas after spending hours in traffic as Hurricane Rita approached; Sabrina Johnson, right, of Webster, and Sheron Rohmfeld, of La Porte, place items along a fence near the main entrance to the Johnson Space Center on Feb. 3, 2003, in honor of the seven astronauts who died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. TOP: Galveston firefighters battle a house fire in the 3500 block of Avenue O in 2006.Drivers who switched to Allstate saved an average of $718.* How much could you save? Quality car insurance is available at a lower rate than you might think. In fact, drivers who saved money by switching to Allstate saved an average of $718. Switch today. Call me to learn more! THE O'DONOHOE AGENCY 409-744-1888 5928 STEWART RD seanodonohoe@allstate.com allstate.com/seanodonohoe 14364456 Many factors go into the cost of your auto insurance policy, including how you purchase the policy: online, through a call center, or with an agent. Subject to terms, conditions, and availability. Not applicable in CA. *Average annual auto insurance savings reported by new customers surveyed who saved with Allstate in 2019. Allstate Fire & Casualty Ins. Co. Allstate Vehicle & Property Ins. Co. & affiliates: 2775 Sanders Rd Northbrook IL 60062. © 2021 Allstate Insurance Co. Congratulations on your 180th Anniversary 1842 • 2022 | CELEBRATING 180 YEARS | The Daily News | 11 BY EMMA G. FITZSIMMONS T he Galveston County Daily News was my first internship and cemented my love for newspapers. I was a journalism major at the University of Texas at Austin and hungry for real- world experience. I remember attending the morning news meetings and running off to cover whatever was happening that day. I rode a Segway along the seawall to try out the new technology. I wrote a front-page story about an orange cat rescued from a 40-foot palm tree. I pretended to be a movie critic and reviewed the latest Matt Damon film. I helped with more serious stories about reports of racism and sexual harass- ment at schools. I opened the newspaper the next day and saw my byline. I was hooked. I saw the camaraderie in the newsroom as real- ly smart people debated really interesting topics. I watched beat reporters work the phones and drink way too much coffee. I showed strangers my press pass and asked them about their lives. I learned about the history of Galveston beyond my memories of childhood beach trips. Michael Smith and Laura Elder took me under their wing and were generous mentors. I earned $50 per story, which helped pay for gas for the drive back and forth from my parents’ home in Houston. But the money didn’t matter. I was learning that being a reporter was more than a job. It was a calling and a public service, and you had a huge responsibility to get the story right. The news clips I got that summer helped me land internships at the Austin American-Statesman, The Boston Globe and the Chicago Tribune — dream opportunities for someone who had never lived outside Texas and had few connections in the industry. I started freelancing for The New York Times and eventually became a staff reporter. The newsroom in New York can be an intim- idating place, and I was always excited to meet another Texan, especially one with Galveston connections like John Schwartz, a beloved report- er and the son of former state Sen. A.R. “Babe” Schwartz. We became friends, and John loaned me a bag of Texas dirt — including some from Galveston — so that my sons could be “born on Texas soil.” Galveston will always be special to me. You never forget your first love or your first newspaper. Emma G. Fitzsimmons is the City Hall Bureau Chief for The New York Times. She was a summer intern at The Galveston County Daily News in 2004. AT THE DAILY NEWS, I LEARNED TO LOVE NEWSPAPERS BY MARTY SCHLADEN G oing to work at The Daily News turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve made in a lifetime of hasty, ill-considered ones. Kelly Hawes, my editor at the Muncie (Indiana) Star Press, had taken a job there some months earlier, and in spring of 1998, I followed him to Galveston. I couldn’t have known what I was in for. I’ve since lived in seven other places, each with a magnificent character all its own. But pound for pound, Galves- ton has to be the most charmingly freaky of them. Jogging jugglers. A gray-headed man in a fish- scale skirt at 6 a.m. Robert Durst and Morris Black. The Moody family. It was as if a carnival had come off the road and become a town. The Daily News was a very strong publication in a very newsy community. Some called it the feistiest small paper in Texas. That had a lot to do with the editor, Heber Taylor. Once, when I was new and unsure of his expectations, I wrote up an interview in which the mayor’s statements didn’t align with knowable truth. I tried to, as we say, “write around” that fact; not exactly saying the mayor fibbed, but not quite say- ing he didn’t. After reading this sorry excuse for journalism, Heber came stalking out of his office, hair mussed, bowtie straight. He clomped a boot onto a chair next to me and in his Arkansas twang said, “Marty, this isn’t the first time the mayor lied to us and it isn’t going to be the last time, either. I have a policy when he does: We write a story saying the mayor lied.” It’s hard to overstate the importance of hearing this from your boss. Journalism ethics boil down to never publishing anything you know not to be true. That includes not letting others lie unchallenged under your byline. But Heber also was telling me that if I wrote that the mayor lied and the mayor raised hell, Heber would have my back. That’s not always the case. He’s the editor now, but back then Michael Smith was city editor. In his quiet way, he also let me know that I wasn’t walking a lonely plank when the subjects of sto- ries got mad. When former school Su- perintendent Henry Boening undertook a flimsy campaign to get me fired, Michael sent me an email say- ing that I was a good reporter, my work was solid and I had his support. Anybody who’s worked for Michael knows he doesn’t say such things casually. So it meant one hell of a lot at a time when I needed to hear it. That sort of support came down from the top. In 2004, I was back in the states after a stint in the U.S. Virgin Islands when Heber and Michael gra- ciously consented to hire me back. Shortly after, Pub- lisher Dolph Tillotson showed that he would back his people when challenged. My colleague Sarah Viren had brought in a story about a “public-private partnership” — an expression that for some reason makes me clutch my wallet whenever I hear it. This one had to do with private energy compa- nies and gas leases on public lands. I was brought in to help out, and the more we dug, the less con- vinced we were that the public was benefiting. Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson wasn’t pleased with our coverage. At one point, he went so far as to tell us that the lease arrangements were too complicated for us to understand. My grip on my wallet got even tighter. In an attempt to short-circuit the story, Patterson and his staff eventually flew to Galveston to meet with Sarah and me and all our bosses. He launched into a presentation that attacked not only the credi- bility of our stories, but also our ethics. A few times, I piped up to defend myself, but Dolph told me to hush. He’d handle it. After sev- eral excruciating minutes of biting my tongue, Pat- terson stopped. Then Dolph laced into him in a way I haven’t seen before or since. The gist was, “When you call my people liars, you’re calling me a liar and you’d better have a whole lot more proof than the BS you slung today.” It’s hard to describe the feeling I had after that. Not triumphal. Rather, I was reassured that our reporting was fair and my fellow professionals saw it that way — including the ones who signed my paychecks. I’ve been lucky to work with any number of fan- tastic journalists and learned much from every one of them. That’s true up to the present day. But my colleagues at The Daily News, including my great friend Carter Thompson, will always hold a special place for me. Marty Schladen is a reporter at the Ohio Capital Journal. He has won numerous awards for investigative journalism. COLLEAGUES, BOSSES ALWAYS HAD MY BACK AT THE DAILY NEWS MARTY SCHLADEN COURTESY/ EARL WILSON, THE NEW YORK TIMES EMMA G. FITZSIMMONS“Serving Our Families With Quality, Distinctive, Professional Service” 409-762-8470 3828 Avenue O @ 39th Street Galveston, Texas 12 | The Daily News | CELEBRATING 180 YEARS | 1842 • 2022 ROBERT ANDRIS Circulation, 1 year DORTHEIA ARMSTRONG Production, 15 years CATHERINE BOUDOIN Advertising, 20 years MAUREEN BEANS Advertising, 15 years JORGE CHAVEZ-GUTIERREZ Mailroom, 2 months DARRYL EATON Mailroom, 5 years KERI HEATH Newsroom, 4 years LAURA ELDER Newsroom, 22 years JOHN FERGUSON Newsroom, 9 years IVY HETTINGER-ROBERTS Newsroom, 9 months SKIP MCCOMBE Press, 25 years STEPHANIE MCBRIDE Advertising, 4 months YVONNE MASCORRO Circulation, 20 years LISA LOVE Circulation, 5 years LAMONT MILLER Mailroom, 15 years DONNA RHOADES Advertising, 11 years MELISSA RIVERA Creative Services, 18 years KRISTI QUIGLEY Advertising, 28 years ANNIE SCHWENK Circulation, 5 months ANDREW REINSCH Mailroom, 5 years MICHAEL A. 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Hospice is about enhancing the quality of life. Want to talk to our friendly staff? Call 832-224-4756 We Care We’re Personable We’re Caregivers CONGRATULATIONS ON 180 YEARS! 14 | The Daily News | CELEBRATING 180 YEARS | 1842 • 2022 Patsy and I celebrated our 66th anniversary on Jan. 18, 2022. The Galveston News published notification of our marriage license in early January 1956. I was to graduate Ball High School at midterm that year. In early January, my civics teacher asked me to stay after class. I did, and she said to me: “Gerald is the marriage license in the paper you and Patsy?” I didn’t know until she told me it was in the paper, and I said yes. She went on to say that I had failed the class and wanted to know what I planned to do. Mrs. Rosenthal was upset and so was I. When the report card came out, I received the lowest grade possible that would still let me pass. Without graduating at midterm, I would not have been hired by Union Carbide in early March where I stayed for 45 years. I believe that without The Galveston News and Mrs. Rosenthal our lives might not have turned out so well. I finished writing my memoir last year; your paper is men- tioned in several places. We have lived in many places with my assignments with Union Carbide. I first started taking The Galveston News in about 1960. We asked and you sent to us the paper when we lived in Charleston, West Virginia, for a couple of years in the mid-70s. You also sent it to us when we lived in Ponce, Puerto Rico, for two years in 1971 and 1972. My family sometimes mailed me articles from the paper when I worked in Bidgoszch (bid gosh), Poland, in most of 1980. I had a Galveston newspaper route when I was 11 years old. I wrote about the Tribune afternoon paper and the people on my route. We now live in an apartment complex, and we are the only people who live here that get a daily newspaper. You continue to deliver my paper even though I’m your only customer in this area. I hope the Galveston newspaper will last for another hundred years. Gerald and Patsy Smith ••• We loved The Galveston Daily News. We used to have a home on Tiki Island and had a 50-foot Hatteras. We really enjoyed reading the fishing report and finding the best fishing sites. We had many friends and family that loved to go with us on the boat. We spent many years finding the best places to go by reading The Galveston Daily News — the best newspa- per for this kind of news! Dr. Ronald Groba ••• As near as I can recall, it was my senior year at Ball High School, 1970-71. My high school sweetheart use to work at TG&Y on the East End where the UTMB Primary Care Build- ing is now. The Goodyear Blimp was in town for some event. I believe it was for the Blessing of the Shrimp Fleet or some such thing. Anyway, the crew or pilots happened to stop by to shop at the store, and my girlfriend, Isabel, waited on them. Some- how the conversation evolved as to what they were doing in town, and they gave two complimentary tickets for a ride on the Blimp. She being very reserved and somewhat bashful accepted them and put them in her purse. She almost forgot about them until she reached in her purse and found them with barely enough time to make it to the last flight for the day. So, we rushed to Scholes Field and boarded with Mr. (Brad) Messer and, I believe, his wife. It so happened he was doing an article for The Galveston Daily News. He was given a shot at flying us around the island. I think he mentioned that he had flown something similar during the war or in the service. Of course, me being the cocky young man with his girlfriend watching, I asked if I could give it a shot since I was soon to be drafted and I could say I had flight experience. Man, was I surprised when the captain said, “Sure why not?” He let me take over for a few minutes and then told me to look down and see if recognize the building below me. I said, “Yes, sir!” He said, “Name it.” I said, “American National Insurance Company, sir.” He said, “You know, right now you are flying appropriately twice the height of that building as we speak.” Ray Calderon ••• This paper has been in our home in La Marque for 66 years. My husband, Herb, and I grew up in homes that took this paper faithfully. I was introduced to the paper as a child with “the funny paper” section. Our area was serviced by Guy and Dee Madison for years and years; they delivered and collected themselves. I have a lot of clippings in scrapbooks of weddings, sport events, etc. The next generation, two of my grown kids, also take this paper, one in Dickin- son and the other in Friendswood. So, the saga goes on and on. Happy birthday! Ruth Corbett ••• The Daily News saved my life during the pandemic when everything suddenly shut down in early March 2020. At the time, I was living on Winnie in Galveston. I recall the solace and comfort I felt each morning when I retrieved my paper from the front porch. Somehow having it in my hand gave me renewed hope and courage for the future, and much anxiety escaped me — and even though it was brief, it was consistently there. Across the street at the Mosquito Cafe where I picked up food to go daily, I will never forget the joy of seeing staff I had come to know as good friends sharing with me my daily allot- ment of what I needed — masks and good humor with caring and compassion added as well. I no longer live on the island. I now live in Austin, but I shall nev- er forget those days — they are ingrained and part of me forever. Bess Mitchell ••• A tour of the newspaper plant is still one of my favorite memories. I, along with my fellow Girl Scouts, were taken through the offices where the writers wrote the copy. Then we got a demonstration from the linotype people who turned that copy into columns of particular width and length, and on the layout department where the pages were assembled. We were shown the finished metal plates from which the information was to be inked, and we were given a description of how they were created. But the best part was the huge printing room where the paper flew through the machinery and came out perfectly printed and cut. It was all so very exciting! Since then, I have always loved touring facilities and watching how things are made. As I type this on my desktop and send it to you via email, I am still in amazement of the in- novations in technology just in my 60-some-odd years. Thank you for being here throughout. Rebecca McHenry ••• My father, Jose Otillio (Tilo) Castro, and I were delivery boys for The Galveston Daily News. My father started out selling the paper at Camp Wallace when he was about 7 years old in 1942. His older brother, Robert, carried him along because the cook at one of the barracks liked Tilo and would feed them and buy a paper. My memory of my father starts in 1962 when I was about 7 years old and my father woke me during one summer morning to go with him to deliver the paper. I had a small bike at the time and tired very quickly. So, my father would have me wait in certain locations while he delivered the papers up and down the streets. My father had the area from Broadway to Stewart Road and 43rd Street to 61st Street. The route man- ager, Joe Flores, would station our bundles of paper along the way because we could only carry so many in our paper bags on our bikes. I did not have a bag at the beginning cause my bike was so small. The Galveston Daily News was having a 20-inch bike (a yellow Columbia Playboy “88”) giveaway if I could sign up a certain number of new customers. Dad loaded me up in our ‘53 Chevy and took me around to our friends and relatives and I was able to meet the quota. I was able to put a paper bag on my bike and learned to roll papers and throw them (while riding) at the proper location for our customers and memorized the houses on our route. When my father was out of town, my uncles Raymond Caballero and August Balusek would load me up in a car and we delivered the paper. Robert Castro ••• I grew up in Lake Charles, Louisiana, where my mother always had the newspaper delivered. I have subscribed since moving to Galveston in 1968. My picture, with another faculty hire for Galveston College, was in The Galveston Daily News. Print editions are appreciated at home or in libraries. Billie Marshall Hoskins ••• I don’t know if my mom, Grace Clifford, is the longest subscriber to The Daily News, but it has been on her morning breakfast table for as long as I can remember. Mom is now 97 ‘A THREAD OF CONTINUITY’ DAILY NEWS READERS SHARE THEIR STORIES I am a current subscriber of The Daily News and have been for as long as I can remember. I am 82 years old and was born and raised in Galveston. My parents, as far back as I can remember, were subscribers of The Daily News. In fact, I had three older brothers, two of whom delivered The Daily News’ morning and evening edition, The Tribune. For our family, it was not simply getting on their bikes and tossing newspapers onto the porch or stairs of their customers. In fact, the process began long before that, each morning. The “carrier,” I suppose that was his title, whose name was Claude Robinson, brought huge stacks of newspapers to our home around 3 a.m. All fam- ily members were awake and ready to begin either rolling up each newspaper with a rubber band or, if on a weekday when the papers were much smaller, we would fold them (four folds forming a tuck-in pouch) so they would hold together snugly, even when being tossed through the air. There were no plastic bags! When the rolling or folding was done, my mom helped to load them into the huge sacks on their bikes. It was usually around 4:30 or 5:00 a.m., then my mom blessed them with holy water and they went on their way. She came back inside and prayed that God would protect her two little boys along the way. And he always did! But not from the dogs who took great delight in chasing two young boys on their bikes just before daylight. Each morning they would return home, eat breakfast and get ready for school. And at the end of the school day, the whole process began anew with The Tribune; the evening edition. So now, needless to say, my parents were subscribers of The Daily News at least since the mid- to late-1940s, because my mom loved reading the newspaper. In the mid-1980s, my mom’s health began to fail and so did her vision. So, my husband and I moved her into our home and transferred her Daily News subscription to the new address. I now live on Avenue L and have been here since 1997, and I still love getting The Daily News each morning. Irenaeus Olivier Jordan Roll, toss, repeat: Newspaper part of family’s daily routine Charles Olivier, 10, delivers newspapers at the intersection of 43rd Street and Broadway in Galveston. He is one of two brothers in the Olivier family who delivered The Galveston Daily News. He is a retired Air Force Veter- an who served one year in Vietnam and a total of 26 years of active duty. He is now 83 years old, and he and his wife, Rose, live in Austin. His sister, Irenaeus Olivier Jordan, who shared this photograph, still resides in Galveston and still loves getting The Daily News. COURTESY PHOTO1842 • 2022 | CELEBRATING 180 YEARS | The Daily News | 15 It was a steamy, hot Sunday morning Labor Day weekend. I’d been accurately identified as one who reads every section of The Galveston County Daily News, not just the front page or just the comics, but everything. On that Sunday morning — so long ago we still got a Sunday paper — it was the Galveston Island Humane Society’s “Pet of the Week” that captured my attention. A very dark photo of two Pekingese dogs huddled together peered out at me. My husband, George Douglas Lee, had told numer- ous stories about the many Pekingese dogs that his Dad (Doug Lee) was so fond of. The dogs were part of a menagerie that accompanied their family during George’s childhood and teenage years. I examined the photo. It was either not very good or those dogs were surely a couple of homely mutts. De- bating whether or not to bring the picture to George’s attention, I decided not to say anything and see if he would notice. Laying the paper open to the “Pet of the Week” page, I waited. Mornings with George started with some music; a few wild stories about his show from the night before (that may or may not have been true); and eventually his gravitating to the breakfast table. Bingo, they were spotted. What do you want to do? He’s going to go see them. It being Labor Day weekend and a Sunday, GIHS was closed. He would have to wait until Monday. Also, it was 2010, the Labor Day after Hurricane Ike. GIHS was temporarily housed in a building that miraculously was still standing after the storm, but has since been demolished at 53rd Street and Avenue S, now the Little League Ball Park. The next day, George was oblivious to the idea that GIHS might be closed on Labor Day. He went anyway. Within the hour he called, “Come on, get in the car, you’ve got to see them.” I found George with two bald-faced Pekingese in what could only be described as love at first sight. George adopted the dogs that day. We later learned that GIHS had received many calls about the Pekingese, but George was the only one who went on Labor Day. They became his constant companions. If they needed a walk, he was there. If he needed a smoke, they were there to walk with him. When he was painting, they found a high spot and watched intently. If he had a show, they were at the door waiting when he got home. As his health failed, too sick to get out of bed, they were there. If he was at the nursing home, arrangements were made for them to visit. For all the many things I can thank The Galves- ton County Daily News and the people who make it happen, the most personal and heartfelt was the news about those two dogs. Brenda D. Lee and still doesn’t want to start her day without first reading the newspaper and completing the crossword puzzle. She had a mishap in early December of last year that put her in the hospital, into rehab for strength training, then into the Meridian for long-term care. Throughout this long ordeal of healing was her insistence on reading her newspaper every day and working the crossword puzzles. As a byproduct, this ensured her children visited her every single day as we coordi- nated who was going to bring the paper to Mom. The Daily News became a thread of continuity that ensured life, as Mom knew it, would continue. Thank you for that. Carol Christie ••• The Galveston County Daily News has been my coffee companion for 50-plus years! Being publicity chair for sever- al organizations throughout the years, I’ve come to know many of your staff who have always been very helpful and courteous. Please continue writing your many historical articles. Everyone needs to learn more about Galveston’s history and importance as being the “first” for many things and ideas. Congratulations! Let’s light those candles! Joanna Fitzpatrick Wilson ••• I was transferred to Galveston in 1979. My late husband and I drove down, bought a paper to find a rental until we could buy here. We went to The Galveston Daily News office just before the paper went to press and were given the list of new rentals for that issue. We found one in a great location, and that was such a positive experience, we knew we had found a great place to relocate. He even worked for The Daily News as a photographer while working for Southern Union Gas. He stayed on the island during Hurricane Allen and got some interesting pho- tos. He lost a battle with leukemia in the late 1980s but had wonderful care at St. Mary’s Hospital. I continued to live on the Island until mid-2005 when I married a “local” who I met at Washington Park as we each were launching our boats. Capt. Joe was a wonderful source of information to both of us. We now live near the island and continue to subscribe to The Daily News. May The Daily News continue on for many years to come and have an important role in the lives of others as it has mine. Carrie Wortham ••• During the 1960s, my father, Charles K. Roach, was a detective for the Galveston Police Department. They were as- signed to damage the slot machines from the Balinese Room. Dad and other detectives were featured in the parking lot of the police station on 25th Street, manually destroying these machines. I think they used sledge hammers. It was a great story around the county. D. Sue Rice ••• In The Daily News every day, I look forward to reading the AP’s Today in History. From the few sentences about what happened on that day in history, I learn new things or have memories brought to mind of events during my life time. I share the best happenings on some days with my family group messaging, which brings interesting discussions. Joan Mertens ••• I had a very interesting experience during my years at The Daily News. I began working there part-time when I wrote an arts column in 1989. It was part of my work as an artist with the Texas Commission on the Arts. Later on, as a full-time employee along with my regular tasks, I had some really exciting things to do. For example, I worked on a special section with Betty Massey and the Gal- veston Historical Foundation, and we won a national award. I also loved putting together the annual Home Improvement special section despite my utter lack of Martha Stewart skills. I took on the Small Business pages and helped the adver- tising department grow them from just the Downtown Page to pages all over the county. I really loved running around Love at first sight: Daily News brings reader and dogs together COURTESY PHOTO George Douglas Lee with his dogs, Pekingese Eddie and Jake, which he adopted from the Galveston Island Humane Society, and Effithe Pomeranian. Galveston and talking to small-business owners. I have been a journalist since high school. But even as a col- lege editor, there was a lot of bad news to report. This was the first time I had done only lifestyle and I really enjoyed all of it. Marsha Wilson Rappaport ••• I love The Daily News and can think of at least three instances that the News has accommodated me and, for this, I am very grateful. A few years ago, I had a monthly genealogy column in the News, where I was able to give clues and information on how to research ancestors. Being a member of the Galveston Chapter (George Washington) of the Daughters of the American Revolution and Constitution Week Chairman for 18 years, and still on the committee, the paper helped me to make readers aware of the importance of our celebrating Constitution Week, by publishing pictures of our displays, articles about the subject, and pictures of our meetings with local mayors giving out proclamations. I always enjoy such an achievement each year in September. More recently, in April 2021, you printed an almost half page in color of “How I came to find a school friend after 74 years.” I was so very pleased with that article and want to again thank Michael Smith for allowing this article to be print- ed. Thank you for this opportunity to share these recollections, and happy 180th birthday, Daily News! Frances Foreman ••• My parents subscribed to The Galveston Daily News morning and afternoon edition when I was growing up. The tradition has continued my entire life with my husband and I subscribing to the newspaper. I feel I am a good judge of things and I must comment how very lucky we are to have Leonard Woosley, Michael Smith and Laura Elder! Our newspaper has jumped leaps and bounds with all that they continue to do. I thank you so very much for all the hard work that you do each and every day. Mary Lou KelsoNext >