I have a story to tell that may interest you. It's the story of a newspaper that has been a major part of my life, and the lives of most everyone I know, for as long as any of us can remember. The story is told, not from the perspective of a knowledgeable insider, because I'm not and never have been, but from the perspective of someone from the outside looking in, someone who reads the local newspaper most every day. Someone, probably, like you. Newspapers, and the people who run them, tell us a lot about ourselves and the world we live in without realizing, I suspect, how much they reveal of themselves in the process. It is from these bits of self-revelation, gathered over a long period of time, that I have been able to piece together this story. I'll leave it to you, a fellow reader, to decide for yourself what is fact and what is fiction. Keep in mind, however, that it's only a story. Few adults who lived through the Vietnam War and the Nixon presidency would argue that the way the news is reported in this country today is the same as it was before those tumultuous years. What was once embraced only by the lowest of the tabloids is now considered standard fare in the most prestigious newspapers in the land. And yet, when that change took place on the local level in most towns and cities across the land it was so subtle that the turning point was hardly noticed. Not so with the newspaper I grew up with. That fine old institution, as solemn and gray as the cement exterior of its gothic style headquarters, whose masthead proudly boasted of the twin virtues of independence and honesty, succumbed to the forces of change in a rather dramatic fashion. My story is an attempt to piece together the circumstances and characters surrounding that event as best I can. Chronologically, the story begins when it all began for me, back in the early fifties when baseball had already established itself as the most important thing in my life and the sports section of the Providence Beacon in general, and "Easy Ed" O'Halloran's sports column in particular, fed the furnace within me and lent credence and respectability to my addiction. The natural beauty and pleasing climate of this country's smallest State has made Rhode Island a playground for the rich and famous for over one hundred years, but it is the ethnic and cultural diversity of its people that makes it truly unique, a potpourri of spices and ingredients that make an interesting and flavorful stew. The characters in this book have been plucked from that stew and, hopefully, you will find it satisfying, as well. Enjoy!
