Saturday, July 1, 2000 | 2:02 a.m.
Don Digilio, general assignment reporter and columnist, on a cub reporter's assignment with Hank:
"Hank was going before a planning commission meeting over some land he was buying, and I was assigned to cover the meeting as both a reporter and photographer. I had one of those big old-fashioned cameras with the popping flashbulbs.
"Hank told me not to use too much film -- money was tight back in those days -- but to use a lot of bulbs that were inexpensive. He said, 'These guys are politicians -- they'll be more interested in you taking their picture than hearing what I have to say.'
"He was absolutely right -- I fired off a bunch of bulbs, without putting in much film, and they looked at me every time instead of paying any attention to what Hank was saying. In the end, they just voted in his favor.
"I left for the Review-Journal because they offered me $30 more a week than the $77.50 the Sun was paying me. (Digilio became a longtime R-J editor.) In the mid-80s when Hank asked me to write a column for him, I came back to the Sun. I long admired Hank for his guts and positive attitude no matter how bad things looked."
Don Digilio retired from newspapering as a columnist for the Sun after stints as a columnist at the Review-Journal and North Las Vegas Valley Times.
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