Columnist Ruthe Deskin: Looking back, looking ahead for the Sun

Ruthe Deskin

Thursday, Oct. 8, 1998 | 11:07 a.m.

Change isn't easy.

It took months of planning and organizing by a group of talented and innovative folks to give the Las Vegas Sun its new look.

We hope you like it.

I have to admit to a feeling of deja vu. I've been down this road before and lived through changes that were made to make the Sun even better than when it was first published in 1950.

For 44 years I have been writing a weekly front page column for my favorite newspaper.

In that time I have become convinced that it takes brass to live out the golden years.

Writing a weekly column for the Sun happened by accident---and I mean that in the purest literary sense.

Early in 1945, Sun publisher Hank Greenspun sent two emissaries to ask if I would be interested in employment. Ed Oncken and Ray Germain explained the benefits that would accrue, including the princely salary of $45 a week. It was $10 less than I was making as a partner with Art Force in the advertising and public relations business. I turned them down.

As I later found out, one didn't say "no" to Hank. He upped the wage to what I considered edge-of-poverty and I succumbed.

I was given the lofty title of Sunday editor and assistant to the publisher.

Shortly after I started working, two major incidents occurred. My mentor and role model, Barbara Greenspun, decided to have a baby and Danny was born.

Then, Hank was involved in an automobile accident that confined him to the hospital and home for several months. This happened right in the midst of a huge Sun expose of local politicians on the take and grand jury investigations.

I was on my own without a clue as to what was expected of me. With the help of the back shop crew, and three reporters who took pity on me, I was able to produce a reasonably acceptable Sunday paper.

To stay in touch with the publisher, I devised a system of sending a written report at the end of each day, telling Hank what was going on around town and in the office. I dubbed it "Memo to Hank."

One morning, after a stressful day, I picked up the Sun and there on the front page was my "Memo to Hank." It became a regular Tuesday feature for many years.

In the beginning, Hank Greenspun's front page column was must reading. Later it became a sounding board for writers Mike O'Callaghan, Brian Greenspun, this columnist and occasionally Janie Greenspun.

With the new look came the question of where to relocate "Where I Stand."

Mike O'Callaghan and Brian Greenspun were an easy fix. They landed on the opinion pages.

Then came the quandary: what to do with the oldest living columnist at the Las Vegas Sun.

Someone suggsted I might have some value writing a column that could combine subjects of interest to seniors, recollections of historical Las Vegas and current events. Hence the name, "Back and Forth."

In the past, I have written of people, places, politicians and pets -- even pornography. Because Hank was the hard-hitting, fearless editor, and our unforgettable Paul Price was the muckracker, my assignment was to write about the good things in life. That, I have tried to do with only an occasional slip.

It's been a long, long time and I wouldn't have missed a minute of it.

Only old-time newsmen and newswomen will understand when I talk of making the transition from hot type to cold type and finally into the latest technology, which has no resemblance to newspapers of yore.

And so, the old melds into the new and, with our new look, the old Sun still shines through as the best example of what is meant by the free press and journalistic integrity.