By Charles Melton
Melton’s Musings
Since Valentine’s Day is Saturday, let me first remind all of you with girlfriends, wives and significant others that if you haven’t already prepared for Saturday, you’re a wee bit late and I wish you good luck in pulling off a miracle in the next 48 hours. I’m pulling for each of you.
Now to get to the real story in this column. Obviously, most of y’all think that there’s no possible way that two Fs can make an A-plus, because academically, that’s an absolute impossibility. In matters of the heart, it’s anything but. I have personally verified the reports, triple-checked the facts, and am completely confident that the story you’re about to read is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God. That’s the column I was going to write, but Hutchinson City Manager Enrico Villegas changed that plan at last Tuesday night’s Hutchinson City Council meeting.
During the debate about the general obligation bonds to pay for improvements to Carey Park Golf Course, Villegas brought my name up when he said, “I think really this is a message too, in storytelling, and especially in getting with Charles with The Hutch Tribune to make sure this is appropriately covered.” If you don’t believe he said that, go and watch it on the city’s YouTube channel or ask former Councilmember Jon Richardson, who was sitting to my right at the meeting.
That’s not the first time my name has been brought up in a public forum without me expecting, especially after only being in a place for three months. The first few time were congratulatory kudos on my 21st birthday at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, and at my last city council meeting Poulsbo, Wash. Last Tuesday night hit differently though.
Last Tuesday night was both a both compliment and a challenge, and I don’t take either of those lightly especially given the responsibility of ensuring that The Tribune’s coverage of not just the March 3 proposed .75% sales tax vote is covered accurately, fairly, and objectively, but doing everything possible to do my part to help produce a community newspaper that Hutchinson and all of Reno County believe in enough to proudly call it their own.
When I look at the last two months of what The Tribune staff has done, I can honestly say that we’re getting there. Each issue has been better than the previous one, and incremental progress is being made. Granted, there will never be an issue of The Tribune that I look at and say, “It’s perfect!” Darn good, maybe. But perfect will never be. The perfect issue would mean that there’s nothing left to do, and I would have no choice but to retire again and this time really retire. Retire as in sleep in late, have absolutely no set schedule, and do nothing but whatever I felt like doing on a whim. Maybe drink brews and avoid watching the news. I’m not ready for that yet. I’m still hungry.
It’s that hunger that separates the high achievers from the average Joes. Average Joes are satisfied with good enough and mediocre. That’s never been my style. I always want to be better than the day before in everything that I do, and until the Hutchinson News is out of business I am going to keep burning both ends of the candle here at The Tribune. Leadership means doing not telling. It’s setting the example and going above and beyond all the time.
Now if you’re wondering about how two Fs can make an A plus, you’ll have to catch me at next month’s Brews with the News from 5 to 7 p.m. on March 6 at Sandhills Brewing and maybe, just maybe, I’ll tell you that happy story.
Charles Melton is the news editor of The Hutchinson Tribune. He can be reached at charles@hutchtribune.com.