On Second Thought

Nothing endures but change … even in the sports departmentTomorrow is John Rittenhouse’s last day as sports editor here at the Star Herald. His two-week notice put the news department in a tailspin.Sara and I panic if we have to cover for John on vacation (a journalism degree doesn’t include sports writing — it’s a completely different language), so his resignation nearly caused a coronary. For 18 years John has covered four different school districts in the Star Herald coverage area — Adrian, Ellsworth, Hills-Beaver Creek and Luverne — reporting on four different varsity sports per school. In the height of high school athletic seasons, that can mean more than 30 events per week. Needless to say, it’s a position we can’t afford to leave vacant.John hails form Breckenridge and came to the Star Herald in 1986 from the Ada, Minn., paper.When he started here, Bob Osterday was head football coach in Luverne and Laurin Carroll was head boys’ basketball coach.John shot 35 mm black-and-white film and processed and printed his own photographs in the darkroom. His stories were printed out in column-widths and manually pasted on the page on press day.Today he digitally edits his color images, and his pages are composed electronically and e-mailed to press.Amid all this change, it seemed we always knew we could count on one thing to stay the same — John’s reliable, thorough sports coverage.Alas, his departure proves once again that nothing endures but change.John will be sorely missed, but the Star Herald is fortunate to have hired a highly-qualified person to fill his shoes.Twenty-year sports writing veteran Mark Haugen, Valley Springs, will be the new face of sports reporting at the Star Herald, and we can’t wait to introduce him to readers in next week’s edition.John declined to be interviewed for a farewell story, but if I know John, his parting words of advice might include:
Mind your own business and get your work done promptly,
Avoid the office food court and don’t participate in office politics
Keep the company car radio tuned in to Rush Limbaugh and always vote Republican
Stay home on New Year’s Eve. "That’s amateur night."
"It’s a woman’s world" is a wise mantra for the only male employee in the office.John’s leaving the Star Herald, but he’s not leaving town. He and his wife, Astrid, and 10-year-old Nick and 3-year-old Melanie are staying in Luverne, and John’s considering a career move in construction work.He can still be found at the Eagles Club on Saturday nights, on the Larchwood Golf Course in the summer and at his own kids’ athletic events (now as a spectator, not as a press person).Best wishes, John. Enjoy your evenings and weekends at home, and feel free to impose your personal political opinions as Letters to the Editor.