#decision2018

By Curt Hills, Managing Editor

Adversity defined. 

It happened on one of the biggest events of the year for a newspaper — Election Night.

The polls had closed, the results were flowing in, winning candidates were being interviewed and the Daily Sun’s ambitious election edition was well underway. 

Then it all went to black. Literally.

At about 8:40 p.m., a suspected blown electric transformer plunged the entire Spanish Springs region into darkness, including the Daily Sun newsroom.

There were audible gasps and shouts of “no’s” in the initial seconds, punctuated with the chirping of battery backups (a sound that will haunt our dreams) and heart-wrenching groans when it was discovered that some work had been lost.

(PSA: SAVE OFTEN!)

Yet within minutes, discouragement was replaced by determination.

After a quick connections with other Daily Sun department heads, the election night crew huddled around Executive Editor Bo Burton in the middle newsroom, lit by only a single flashlight and an iPhone’s flashlight feature. 

Managing Editor Bill Bootz led AME Leah Schwarting and a caravan of senior reporters David Corder, Michael Salerno, Steve Straehley, and Pat Steele to the Brownwood office (although the impeccable timing award goes to senior reporter Ciara Varone who filed just before the blackout). Managing Editors Curt Hills, Amy Correnti and Nick Feely led AME Greg Miller and senior reporters Tyler Breaman and Kristen Fiore and senior copy editors Denise Ritter, Mark Francis and Scott Stahmer to the press facility on Rolling Acres Road. Associate Editors Matt Fry and David Collins joined a small hardware-moving army under the direction of IT director John Tryon in loading up the vehicles of Publisher Phil Markward, Associate Publisher Jim Sprung, Advertising Director Dan Sprung and Circulation Director John Gagnon. 

(Ask Matt about a later run-in with Community Watch who mistook him for a looter. It’s funny now, maybe not so funny in the moment.)

At the press plant, a makeshift production desk was created under the IT help of Charlie Thompson where Managing Editor Colin Smith, AME Adam Rogers, Prepress Editor Mike Rostas and designers Andrew Manzo, Libby Lang and Audra Swan swiftly resumed action. Others found open desks where they could, and Kristin worked from the floor in the hallway.

While the emergency operation was up and running in about an hour, the already staggered and tight deadline of election night would be tested like never before. 

Stories had to be restarted. Wire content had to be retrieved through more primitive means. Email and flash drives became carriers of copy. A frenzied rotation of shared work spaces and an urgent run on the sugar-snack supply ensued. Results, and some copy, had to be edited on smartphones.

And just for good measure, Florida’s two top-ballot races came down to the wire with victory margins less than 1 percent.

Through it all, no one doubted this quality crew’s ability to get a quality report out on the street.

“We’re going to make it! We’re going to make it!” Burton continually hollered at the troops throughout the evening, between editing and art directing pages, negotiating page flow with Director of Operations Steve Infinger, and making sure everyone had a caffeinated beverage.

The Daily Miracle began rolling off the press about 2 a.m. as dozens of carriers lined up outside to take 60,000 copies of Florida’s best Election Edition to the masses.

The lead headline blarred “Nailbiter,” but that was sheerly for politics, not a double-meaning for the journalists at the Daily Sun. There was no doubt this tenacious team was capable of rising above adversity defined.