It's a wonder the execs at the Rocky Mountain News have time to publish a newspaper given the number of memos they're having to write about departing employees. Today, May 2, brings another pair of internal missives about the tabloid's revolving door. The first focuses on Denny Dressman, a prominent name on the still-unofficial list of workers supposedly taking the buyout deal offered to select Rocky vets in March, and his replacement, Randall Roberts (no relation). The second says goodbye to Tim Skillern, a key member of the paper's multimedia department.
Here's the Dressman/Roberts item, sent out under the signature of editor/publisher/president John Temple:
Folks
I’m delighted to announce that Randall Roberts will be succeeding Denny Dressman in running the administrative services department of the Rocky. Randall has been with the Rocky since ’98 and has been interacting with newspaper agency and Scripps corporate throughout that time. In his new role, he will supervise administrative services and continue to act as the key liaison with the agency on a wide range of topics. He’ll also continue to play a role in the newsroom as an editor on key stories and projects, as needed.
John
And here's the Skillern e-mail, penned by managing editor Deb Goeken:
Everyone: Tim Skillern is leaving the Rocky to join former colleagues Jason and Leonardo at Associated Content in Cherry Creek, a start-up internet site that gathers content from a variety of sources. He'll be their news editor.
Tim is a talented journalist, videographer and multimedia producer who joined the Rocky in January 2000. He won the Best of Scripps award in January and February of 2001. Most notable was Tim's video of a high school wrestler trying to cap a perfect career at the state championships. The contest judge wrote "When people talk about the power of media convergence, this is what they mean. It's a future that every journalist should be thrilled to embrace."
Tim went on to videotape footage of the 2002 Winter Olympic venues in Salt Lake City. More recently, he was involved in managing the redesign of the current RockyMountainNews.com site and producing the majority of video for the Crossing and Border Within projects.
Prior to coming here, Tim worked on the sports copy desk of the Boulder Daily Camera in 1997 while finishing his studies at CU-Boulder. He also had a brief stint on the Austin American-Statesman's Web site before joining the Camera's Web team in 1999.
Please wish him well.
Deb
These will hardly be the last memos of their type to circulate at the Rocky over the next month or two. When it comes to writing fond farewells, Temple and Goeken won't get rusty. -- Michael Roberts
