It is hard to believe that it is already a year since I became full time associate editor of The Ville Platte Gazette. It still feels like only recently that I first started as a sports writer in 2014 covering high school football on Friday nights. Look how far I have come.
I have gotten in a few pickles along the way over the past year. Most notably is when I got my car stuck in the mud on Hilly Road. I was leaving an Oakdale baseball game in Mamou around the end of January when our editor Elizabeth West called and asked if I could go take a picture of a wreck on Hwy 10 and Greta Lane. Or, was it Ella Mae Road? Either way. Being that I already had the camera with me, I told her that I could. I went take pictures of the wreck without a hitch, but the hitch came when I was trying to come back home because Hwy. 10 was blocked. Long story short, I went on my phone and saw that I could take Hilly Road from Hwy. 10 to the Miller’s Lake Road. Not long after I turned onto the road is when I realized the treacherous conditions. Luckily, my car did not end up flipped over into a crawfish pond with me in it. Instead my car ended up getting stuck in the mud. Thanks again to Spencer Vizinat and the rest of the guys who came push me out.
Speaking of Elizabeth West, last month we were talking in the office about how it has already been a year for us, and I said that the honeymoon period last year with the Graduation Edition. We had some other difficulties along the way, but, at least, neither of us has killed the other one. Yet.
But, what I have done was break a promise that I made to you the readers back in January. I wrote a column then about the movie Broadcast News. I ended the column with this, “Tom Grunick played by William Hurt tells Albert Brooks’ Aaron Altman character a rule that he made for himself. This rule is a good one for me to use as associate editor, and it may be useful in your own life. Grunick said, “I made one rule for myself when this started, and I realized I was going to take a lot from you people because of being from sports ... Never to pretend to know more than I did.”
I broke that promise by assuming things I thought I had known and ended up putting inaccurate information in the paper. For that, I apologize. I’m going to continue to strive to put accurate information in the paper the same way that I strive every day to enter through the narrow gate that Christ talked about in Matthew 7:13. Thankfully, it was only twice, but that is twice too many for my self created standards.
On a lighter note; however, I would be remiss if I did not mention where I came from. I left the Clerk of Court office after 13 years to come here to The Gazette. I am realizing more and more how much I miss it. I started there right after college and grew up over there. We really did become a family, and I hope that I left my mark in some way.
The poet laureate of the clerk’s office Chasity Vizinat, as she did for everybody who left the office, wrote and recited a poem for my last day. I want to close this column with excerpts of that poem...
“Tony, today we will not say goodbye, but instead “See you later.” You will only be going across the street to work at the local paper.
I want you to know that we all cherish our individual relationships with you. You are appreciated more than you probably ever knew.
Your knowledge is undeniable, and your hunger for your faith is impressive for sure. You have a way about your love for God that makes us all want more.
You keep your head down working at your desk and don’t like to have to answer the phone. Who will be blunt and talk rough when you’re gone?
You learned a lot from your mentor J.L. He helped set you in your ways, and you’ve done it well.
But, when anyone asks you to do something, you will never say no. Your kindness is the reason we hate to see you go.
When stressed and asked something, you love to say “Oooookkkkaaayyy.” And the fact is we will miss it, what else can we say?
The future is bright, and your time has come to move on. For us it is bittersweet. We are very happy for you, but we will miss you when you’re gone.
Tony, we are proud of you are taking this giant leap and following your dreams. Use your quick wit, analogies, historical knowledge, and puns to write articles no one has ever seen.
We are proud of you, and we congratulate you from the bottom of our hearts. So, today is not goodbye, but, for you, it’s a brand new start.”
To everybody at the clerk’s office and the courthouse in general, I again want to thank you for making me the person I am today. And thanks to everyone at The Gazette for not giving up on me.
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Tony Marks