JUDY PUTNAM

Thank you, readers, for a thrilling ride as I end my stint as the LSJ's news columnist

Judy Putnam
Lansing State Journal

LANSING – When I began as the Lansing State Journal’s news columnist nearly five years ago, I wasn’t sure what road was ahead of me. I was given a wide berth to interact with readers and explore subjects that appealed to me.

It’s been quite a thrilling ride, but it’s coming to an end. I’m retiring at the end of January.

Five years ago, I couldn't foresee the rich, quirky material I would find in my own backyard and the occasional delight in making a positive difference in people’s lives.

But there’s one reason and one reason only for that: You, the readers.

Columnist Judy Putnam pictured Dec. 11, 2019, while on assignment in Lansing's Old Town. She's retiring after more than 30 years in journalism.

Thank you to those who have responded with help, dollars to fix problems, outrage and pressure or just shared in the fun of the story. 

Some of the best feedback I received were those who didn’t agree with me but did so with civility. If there’s one thing we all know we need more of in today’s world, it’s that.

Others — instead of criticizing my viewpoint, reporting or writing — just criticized me.

'I hope you have other talents'

My favorite started: “I hope you have other talents…”

I laughed at that one but it’s a sorry state of affairs when we think we can just target a person and not their actions or viewpoints. That happens far too often today.

Let’s vow to work on that.

I viewed my job as trying to capture the heart and soul of the Lansing area and appealing to our better instincts.

Sometimes, I didn’t have to look very far. 

Jayne Higo of Lansing is a third-generation Japanese-American or Sansei. The recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, Trump v. Hawaii, stirred memories of her parents internment during WWII.

If I roll back my chair far enough at the Lansing State Journal, I’d back into Jayne Higo. She works part time as a news assistant, bringing plenty of journalism chops. She’s a former reporter and spokeswoman for the late Lt. Gov. Martha Griffiths.

She’s often the person you reach when you call the newsroom.

And though she’s a very private person, she shared her story of the internment of her Japanese-American parents who both spent part of their youth confined during World War II, despite being American-born citizens.

They sent them to places called camps. But they were prisons.

She was inspired to tell the story as a new wave of anti-immigrant sentiment swept our country, this time targeting Muslims

You know the moral of that: Those who ignore the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them.

You can't make this up

I also delighted in stories that you couldn’t make up in your wildest imagination, such as the call that came in about the 50th anniversary of a man who crossed Lake Michigan in a bathtub.

Say what?

Yes, Vic Jackson of Okemos did that on a dare, slapping an outboard motor on a bathtub, held afloat with oil drums.

More:He took a bathtub across Lake Michigan 50 years ago on a $5 bet

I had to admire his spunk, though I also thought it was reckless for a father of young children.

Vic Jackson poses with a photo of himself in a bathtub that he navigated across Lake Michigan from Ludington to Manitowoc, Wisconsin 1969 at his home while looking at memorabilia from the trip on Monday, July 24, 2019, in Okemos. Jackson tells his story in a new book.

There were also stories of lost and found things. Some were needle-in-the-haystack finds, like a horse in a soybean field.

Finneas, then a 4-year-old Rocky Mountain horse, was scared off by fireworks in 2015 from his home in St. Johns. A desperate search for him ensued.

Just as his owners, Richard and Amy Helgren, were giving up hope, Finneas showed up in a soybean field over a mile away, having packed on pounds from munching the farmer’s crops. There wasn’t a scratch on him despite his nine days on the lam.

His story made international news.

Finneas, by the way, is 8 now and doing just fine, reports Richard Helgren. The couple purchased another Rocky Mountain horse so they can ride together.

In 2015, Finneas, a  Rocky Mountain horse, went missing for nine days. On July 9, 2015, he was back home safely with his owner Amy Helgren of St. Johns and husband Rick, along with Fergus, the family dog.

One of the stories that highlighted Lansing at its best happened earlier this month. Readers supported Linh Lee, a hardworking restaurant owner whose disgruntled ex-boyfriend tried to sabotage her business, Capital City BBQ, by falsely recording a message that the restaurant was closed.

That wasn’t right, and readers responded by ordering her Vietnamese and barbecue fare in massive quantities to show support.

More:Diners show up in droves to support Lansing restaurant sabotaged by owner's ex-boyfriend

So many things have changed since I left journalism school at Michigan State University. My first job was pounding out stories about road and airport construction at a small daily, the Adrian Daily Telegram in 1977, before I moved to Mississippi, Texas and back to Michigan.

Customers line up at Capital City BBQ in Lansing Monday, Jan. 6, 2020, during a larger-than-normal lunch rush.  Owner Linh Lee says the restaurant has been "very busy" since last Saturday.  She says diners from the Greater Lansing area have shown up in droves after she told the LSJ her ex-boyfriend had tried to sabotage her business following a bitter breakup.

Back then, we used manual typewriters instead of computers. To move paragraphs around we cut them out with scissors and used the handy glue pot to paste them in new spots. The copy was sent to the back room for typesetting.

Some things stay the same

Google, the internet and email were far-off inventions. For background, you checked paper files, old newspaper clips and called reference desks at libraries.

You reported using shoe leather. Photos were made from negatives that had to be processed in dark rooms.

Though the technology has changed so dramatically, some things haven’t.

The need for fairness is one. Accuracy. A newspaper that asks the questions the readers would want asked and that has the spine to do it.

I’ve witnessed the watchdog role that was filled by the Lansing State Journal on such stories as Larry Nassar, the disgraced sports medicine doctor at Michigan State University, and the Rev. Jonathan Wehrle, the St. Martha priest accused of embezzlement.

Many details were forced into the open by reporters and editors working the story diligently and filing legal requests for information.

Newspapers are fighting for survival in a changing world. I sincerely hope they make it. Keeping a strong daily newspaper in my town is important to me, and it should be to you.

I’ve got regrets. I passed on stories that in hindsight, I wish I had tackled. There are more stories out there than we can get to, and sometimes we have to choose and just hope we made the right decision.

Schneider advised me to be authentic

Though I’m leaving the job, I'm not leaving the Lansing area. I plan to travel, widely I hope, hitting the road with my husband and dog to see the national parks. I have a long bucket list of other places, too.

One wonderful advantage of the job was the chance to have a relationship with the late Jim Hough, who wrote the Onlooker, a daily column about life in the capital city.

The best compliment I’ve received is one just last week that compared me favorably with Hough and John Schneider, beloved longtime columnists. I often thought of what they would do or how they would approach a problem brought to them.

It was a privilege to carry on that tradition in Lansing that they both did so well. Schneider advised me at the start to be authentic. I did my best.

Thank you for reading along.

Judy Putnam is a columnist with the Lansing State Journal. Contact her at (517) 267-1304 or at jputnam@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @judyputnam.