Byline: George Barnes

COLUMN: Barnestorming

There were a lot of a papers, a lot of dust, too many coffee mugs and so many memories found and recalled as Danielle Williamson and I worked this week to close the Telegram & Gazette's Gardner office.

Yesterday, as I wrote

today's column, I thought it was interesting that one of the most prominent items on the walls was a front page from the paper that ran the day after the attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C., on Sept. 11, 2001. The day will always be on my mind. I still get emotional recalling the murders of so many innocent people.

Next to it, and almost as profoundly wrenching for local residents, was the front page with the story of the fire that leveled Worcester Cold Storage and Warehouse Co. that ran in the paper Dec. 4, 1999. The deaths of the six Worcester firefighters are now imprinted on the soul of many from Worcester and those who serve in the fire services.

On a lighter side was a New York Daily News front page announcing that John Kerry had picked Missouri Congressman Richard Gephardt for his running mate. The page blared the words "exclusive" and it was, since Joe Lieberman ended up being chosen as running mate in that ill-fated presidential run. The Daily News had an exclusive on Gephardt.

As I sorted through files that once belonged to Gerry Vincent, Mary Frain, Priscilla Winehill, Dick Chaisson, Coria Holland, Tom Warnke, Amy Miller, Mary Jo Hill, Mike Elfland, Jason Feifer and others who worked in the T&G's Gardner office over the years, I felt sad knowing Monday will be the end of a long-standing tradition.

The Telegram & Gazette's office in Gardner will be closed on that day, and desks, files and other stuff will be moved to Leominster or Worcester. The T&G will continue to cover Gardner and surrounding communities out of the Leominster office, but will not have reporters filing their stories in the city unless it is by e-mail.

There has been a Telegram & Gazette news office in Gardner since the 1940s, although not always on Central Street. It was the place where Bob Achorn, former editor and publisher for the paper, got his start and where former T&G publisher Bruce Bennett honed his skills as a reporter before moving up the ranks.

Len Lazure, the T&G's photo editor, was a cub reporter in Gardner and so was Statehouse reporter John Monahan. For many years, reporter Dave Turcotte, now the paper's librarian, worked there. The place was, at times, haunted by correspondents Ernie King and Hank Stoltz, now a radio reporter. Jocelyn Augustino of Gardner, now a professional photographer in the Washington, D.C., area, worked there for a while.

Not to be too personal about this, but my 82-year-old mother, Shirley Barnes, has worked in the office since 1979 as a correspondent. She is grumbling, but accepting the idea that she will have to get e-mail and file her stories from her new laptop computer - if she ever gets it out of the box. My wife, Maria, now a Telegram & Gazette editor, started as a correspondent for the paper in its Gardner office.

The city of Gardner has had its ups and downs over the years, but it has always been a good news town. What led to the decision by the T&G to close its office was more changes in the newspaper industry, rather than changes in Chair City. The decision by the Telegram & Gazette to consolidate its offices was the result of efforts to deal with industry-wide challenges from the Internet and the busier lifestyles of our readers.

But cleaning out the office has been a melancholy chore this week.

I have covered Gardner much of my career for three newspapers, and I expect to continue to cover the city, one of three major population centers the T&G covers in northern Worcester County. The files we have been sorting through contain many compelling stories and many photographs filled with familiar and not-so-familiar faces.

On the wall I taped various odd police log items I found, including one where a woman saw a red substance on her vehicle, tasted it, and determined it was blood. She then noticed a pigeon dead on the side of the road and decided to call police because "she was nervous about what she put in her mouth."

Also in a prominent position on the walls was a call to the Athol police from a resident advising them that "they have a moose in their pool." There was also a copy of a photograph sent to the office of a sign that read, "Go Red Sox! Red Sox fans 20-percent off. Yankee fans (first letter of an expletive) Off."

In the drawer of one desk was a book, "Typobloopers" by Kermit Schafer, which included a gem from the Boston Herald: "Gov. Peabody will hit the campaign trail, faking stops in Gardner, Leominster and Fitchburg"; and another by the Worcester Telegram, "Overcome by gas while taking a bath, she owes her life to the watchfulness of the janitor." The Telegram made the book a second time with an advertisement: "Don't kill your wife. Let our Bendix washing machine do your dirty work."

On the windows of the Central Street office, I left photographs of Ray Labell and Dusty Ormsby, two locals who frequently visited, and former Gardner School Committee member Jo-Ann Gerde's smartly dressed tiny dog carrying a campaign sign. I didn't have the heart to take them down

Also on the wall was a fake advertisement for the movie, "Willard," doctored with my name by former Gardner police Lt. Gerald Poirier. I kept that. He made it for me in honor of the rat infestation on Park Street he investigated for the police, and photographer Rick Cinclair and I covered for the newspaper.

Before the doors close on 306 Central St., I will pack away my triage tag; a photograph of myself checking out a large ceiling panel that fell, just missing my head; a magnet with "I am an expert on Athols"; and a coffee mug, "Athol ... The butt of all jokes," both made by Atholgear.com and sent to me in the wake of yet another controversy involving the town that should, but can't, seem to get any respect.

I will not miss Gardner and Athol because I will continue to cover them. I will miss my perch looking out from my desk onto Central Street. Through a large storefront window, I saw the varied life in Gardner pass by, with people sometimes rapping on my window with their fists or canes if I didn't pay enough attention.

I will miss the sense that I am part of the community because my office is in that community. Gardner was the big city I went to as a youth, and as long as I have known it, it has been a two-newspaper town, with the T&G occupying the big regional paper position. I competed for stories on both sides, first for the smaller paper, located across Central Street from our office, and the last 11 years for the larger paper.

I hope Gardner continues to be a two-newspaper town. People are better served when they get competing takes on what is newsworthy.

Working from Leominster, Danielle and I will try to maintain the coverage we have given the city and towns as far away as Athol and Orange. If we don't, I hope someone drives out to Leominster and raps on our window with a cane to get us to pay attention.