{"id":55,"date":"2004-08-12T12:32:48","date_gmt":"2004-08-12T18:32:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/index.php\/2004\/08\/12\/city-editor-ray-hobbs\/"},"modified":"2006-02-15T12:34:17","modified_gmt":"2006-02-15T18:34:17","slug":"city-editor-ray-hobbs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2004\/08\/city-editor-ray-hobbs\/","title":{"rendered":"City editor Ray Hobbs"},"content":{"rendered":"
Copyright 2004 Ben S. Pollock<\/font><\/h6>\n

Thursday, Aug. 12, 2004.<\/font><\/b> <\/font>Colleague Ray Hobbs of Little Rock died Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2004. He wasn’t old, just 53, but had hepatitis C. [Link to obit has expired.]<\/font> Here are two recollections of Ray.<\/font><\/p>\n

1. In 1982, maybe 1983, I was working at a suburban Dallas daily (Irving Daily News<\/i> and later its central production plant for several suburban papers) and missing Arkansas. I got an interview set up with the Arkansas Democrat’s<\/i> city editor at the time, Bob Sallee. The day before I drove to Little Rock, I phoned Bob and confirmed the time.<\/font><\/p>\n

I found my way to the second floor at the appointed time, but no one could find Sallee. Finally someone said he had just began a vacation.<\/font><\/p>\n

Two fellows just a little older than me eventually introduced themselves, Ray Hobbs and Garry Hoffmann They would interview me, and give their notes to Bob on his return, but as they were relatively new assistant city editors they weren’t sure where we should go.<\/font><\/p>\n

We ended up in the newsroom library. At that time, it was a small closet off the sports department. After the floor-to ceiling shelves there was about 3 by 6 feet of space. Ray and Garry gave me a folding chair to sit on, and they stood, leaning against the stacks of files. Our knees almost touched, it was so small.<\/font><\/p>\n

Ray and Garry explained they really had not interviewed anyone before so they asked me any question they remembered having been asked when they were hired.<\/font><\/p>\n

It was awkward, and we survived the half-hour. A week later, Sallee phoned full of apologies and an offer for a police reporter job that alas was much less than my current salary. I decided to stay in Texas.<\/font><\/p>\n

In summer 1985 I was hired at the Democrat<\/i> as a night news copy editor, supervised by Garry, by then the (sole) assistant managing editor, and reading copy that City Editor Ray’s reporters had written.<\/font><\/p>\n

2. I don’t recall the exact date but in 1994 or 1995 a particularly nasty tornado went through central Arkansas, more or less following Interstate 40. I was wire editor then (titled international editor at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)<\/i> and thus played little part in its coverage.<\/font><\/p>\n

I did sit in on that afternoon’s planning meetings and saw why Ray Hobbs was a terrific city editor.<\/font><\/p>\n

Ray kept his cool and organized reporters, photographers and editors in the way I imagine a field general would. Ray wasted no time, no words and no feelings, and every journalist hustled for him.<\/font><\/p>\n

As the afternoon became evening, reporters and photographers returned to write and to print. Ray from his desk kept an eye out on the assistant city editors and copy desk who put the special report together. Ray also talked with reporters who needed his particular advice and direction, and was on the phone quite a lot.<\/font><\/p>\n

I thought at the time, and knew I’d remember, that this is what newspapers do best: Sure we put out editions day after day with the same gray stuff, but every once in a while there’s a day like this where everything has to go right, with no wasted effort. Such a time, at a good newspaper, takes a man like Ray Hobbs to run it. He’d done them before, and he had quite a few crises to manage afterward. -30-<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Copyright 2004 Ben S. Pollock Thursday, Aug. 12, 2004. Colleague Ray Hobbs of Little Rock died Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2004. He wasn’t old, just 53, but had hepatitis C. [Link to obit has expired.] Here are two recollections of Ray. 1. In 1982, maybe 1983, I was working at a suburban Dallas daily (Irving Daily […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-spin"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6305,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2019\/03\/guy-unangst\/","url_meta":{"origin":55,"position":0},"title":"Lunch. Free? Sure.","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"March 31, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Guy Unangst, early 1998, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette newsroom, Little Rock. Photo by Sandra Tyler I have one good story about the recently departed editor Guy Unangst but didn\u2019t know it was a story until a new reporter in around 2004 asked me, \u201cDid you have a fistfight with Guy Unangst in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life Lessons"","block_context":{"text":"Life Lessons","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/life-lessons\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Guy Unangst, early 1998, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette newsroom, Little Rock. Photo by Sandra Wyman","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Guy-early-1998.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Guy-early-1998.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Guy-early-1998.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Guy-early-1998.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Guy-early-1998.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":120,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2005\/08\/short-term-newspaper-memory\/","url_meta":{"origin":55,"position":1},"title":"Short-term (newspaper) memory","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"August 21, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2005 Ben S. Pollock Sunday, Aug. 21, 2005. Saturday, in The Morning News of Northwest Arkansas the local column of my old Little Rock colleague Doug Thompson (an earnest journalist, sardonic in conversation) wrote glibly and at times carelessly of Wehco Media purchasing from Community Publishers the assets of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Body, Home, Street"","block_context":{"text":"Body, Home, Street","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/body-home-street\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":58,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2004\/08\/being-baited\/","url_meta":{"origin":55,"position":2},"title":"Being baited","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"August 4, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2004 Ben S. Pollock Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2004. Newspapers are suffering because they've lost both anger and humor, Jimmy Breslin said in a Poynter interview in late July. My slight spin would be that we're trying too hard to be nice. Arkansas Democrat-Gazette colleague Jennifer Hansen wrote a few\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News, Spin"","block_context":{"text":"News, Spin","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/news-spin\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":86,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2004\/07\/honor-the-honorable\/","url_meta":{"origin":55,"position":3},"title":"Honor the honorable","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"July 12, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2004 Ben S. Pollock Monday, July 12, 2004: A proposal. Earlier this month, Carl Totemeier died. Didn't know him though stopped at his stand at the Fayetteville Farmer's Market sometimes. He sold plants. In his retirement, he moved to Northwest Arkansas, but continued with his profession of horticulture and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Body, Home, Street"","block_context":{"text":"Body, Home, Street","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/body-home-street\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":808,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2009\/01\/connie-buie-elkins\/","url_meta":{"origin":55,"position":4},"title":"Connie Buie Elkins","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"January 19, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm old enough and responsible enough that I no longer try to avoid funerals. I'm heading to one on Tuesday of one of my mentors, Connie. Now that I've attended a variety, eulogies have become fascinating. The best-intentioned speakers try to illuminate the mourners on less commonly known aspects of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life Lessons"","block_context":{"text":"Life Lessons","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/life-lessons\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Connie Buie Elkins","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/connie-elkins-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":294,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2007\/03\/unprepossessiveness\/","url_meta":{"origin":55,"position":5},"title":"Unprepossessiveness","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"March 12, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"DATELINE MIRTHOLOGY, Monday July 2, 2007, hypothetically -- The Arkansas State Police arrested the executive editors, managing editors and editorial page editors of two prominent newspapers at 11 this morning, no one being in their offices before that. At 12:01 a.m. Sunday, the measure forbidding the spelling of the possessive\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Course of Words"","block_context":{"text":"The Course of Words","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/course-of-words\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}