The Voluntary Separation Program at The Palm Beach Post hit the Treasure Coast Bureaus (Stuart and Pt. St. Lucie) particularly hard. Virtually all of the long-time employees took advantage of buy-out offers, leaving only about two staffers to cover the two-county area.

In all, about 300 employees left The Post before the end of August 2008. Close to that same number would leave at the end of the year, leaving the newspaper’s staffing about half of what it once was. Another layoff, expected by Sept. 15, was recently announced.

When I was shooting record pictures of the Hurricane Frances damage that peeled the roof off the PSL bureau in 2004, I never dreamed how prescient this picture would become.

T-Coasters held own reunion

The T-Coasters tried as much as possible to stay north of the Palm Beach County line, so, with the exception of former bureau chief Glenn Henderson, none of them showed up at the West Palm Beach staff reunion Wednesday night.

Glenn came south because (A) he was used to interacting with the West Palm Beach office as part of his former job and (B) there was a rumor that Eliot Kleinberg was buying. The latter turned out to be false.

We heard Glenn was buying

Jan Norris and I thought we’d go north to crash the T-Coast party. (A) It would be fun to touch base with folks we’d worked with and (B) there was a rumor that Glenn was buying. The latter turned out to be false.

Our arrangement was that I’d take pictures and she’d do the writing. She was also responsible for getting the names of all the staffers who hadn’t won their 30-year watches.

(Actually, the company gave us a Rolex or equivalent when we were inducted into the 20 Year Club. Click the 20 Year Club picture to enlarge it. Sally Swartz is Class of ’79 on the lower right.)

Never trust a photographer with an admin login

As promised, here’s the gallery. Jan tapped Glenn Henderson to fill in names of a few she didn’t know; captions follow the images.

Click on an image to enlarge it

Captions:

1st row, left to right:

1 – No News Tomorrow! memo

2 – 20-Year Club from Palm Beach Newspapers Inc.

3 – Treasure Coast staffers gather for 1-year layoff reunion at Jensen Beach Ale House

2nd row:

1- Eve Samples, former business writer and now Scripps Martin County columnist.

2- Scott Samples (Eve’s husband), and their boy, Heath

3- Sarah Prohaska, former St. Lucie courts reporter

3rd row:

4– Cara Fitzpatrick, current T-coast reporter for The Post

5- Glenn Henderson, T-coast bureau chief

6- Jill Taylor, former Martin cops reporter

4th row:

7 – Jim Reeder, former St. Lucie government reporter

8 – Teresa Lane, former Port St. Lucie bureau chief and PSL city reporter, and her husband, David, former T-coast photo chief

9 – Pat Moore, former Martin courts reporter

5th row:

10 – Paul Milette, former T-coast photo chief

11 & 12 – Sally Swartz, T-coast Opinion columnist (still freelancing for The Post)

Not shown: Daphne Duret, current T-coast reporter for The Post

Institutional memory shot

As it was in the main office, you’re looking at hundreds – we repeat: hundreds — of years combined of institutional memory of the area – gone from the local media. That long-term knowledge of a region and its news and newsmakers is one of the biggest victims of media layoffs across the country. 

[Editor’s note: the “I” is Ken Steinhoff, former Palm Beach Post and Evening Times staff photographer, director of photography, editorial operations manager, telecommunications manager and a member of the Class of ’72 in the 20 Year Club. He’s usually busy keeping his own blog updated.]