By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
This time I mean it.
Back in October, 2015, when I quit my job at the local newspaper the assumption was that I had retired. Floyd Craft even offered me a part-time retired guy gig at the hardware store. That was humorous given my utter deficit in all things in the handyman department.
No, as I’ve told the story many times since then, my intent was to explore how a writer can earn money in the web-sphere, and own the rights of their work. To that end I launched a medium.com site, and did what I’d been doing for about 40 years, writing, largely about the arts, with a foray into political commentary.
I hadn’t gotten on my feet in the digital world when my good friend and colleague Jan McLaughlin was unexpectedly let go from the newspaper. By January 2016 with the collaboration of John and Elizabeth Roberts-Zibbel we had launched BG Independent.
Instead of retiring at 60, I’m now 71 and in the 10th year of the most satisfying work I’ve done in almost 50 years of professional writing.
Everything has to come to an end: As of Aug. 1, I will retire as managing partner of BG Independent. Linda and I will be moving to Kennebunk, Maine to be close to our daughter, her wife, and our 15-month old granddaughter as well as to my family in the Massachusetts’ Pioneer Valley. That will be 32 years since we first moved to Bowling Green and were embraced in so many ways by this community.
With a $1,000 initial stake and tankers full of sweat equity, Jan and I have built a news source that can thrive beyond the departure of one of its founders.
As word about my impending move has seeped out, people have told me how much my work and the work of BG Independent has meant to them and to the community, both BG and the area arts community.
We are confident others will join Jan and Julie Carle to contribute their voices to the local conversation on news and culture. Elizabeth Roberts-Zibbel will assume managing the company’s finances.
If I’ve learned anything over the years, it is that no one is irreplaceable. While I will continue to serve as an advisor during the transition, I’m confident that BG Independent will continue its essential work.
My biggest concern is that I leave at a time when credible local news is needed more than ever, and that the sources of that information are among the targets of those whose mission is to erode the foundations of democracy.
We at BG Independent — Jan, Julie, Elizabeth and John Roberts-Zibbel, myself, and our families — appreciate your support for our efforts. That support, moral and financial, is needed more than ever.
