KCTU HAPPENINGS

As many of you are now aware, the Prospector has ceased publication of Ron's, Sheryl's and my weekly columns. I wished it hadn't been so abrupt, what with the city elections coming up, but it was not to be.
I submitted a final column to them, which they have not printed.
So, to provide some closure (at least for me), here it is:

In this business, in the back of your mind, you always know it's coming.
It's becoming exceedingly rare for anyone in media to retire of their own volition.
So, when I got the e-mail last week that The Prospector was not going to continue this column, I wasn't completely surprised.
Not that the thought hadn't crossed my mind, a time or two or three, to walk away from this of my own volition. Sixteen years is a long time to be doing anything these days.
It would have been nice to at least be able to continue through the end of the current election campaign. There are still a lot of things I'd like to say about that, because I believe we're on the verge of making some huge mistakes next month here in our beloved Doo-Dah.
But, just as most of us can't choose the time we die, there is almost never the right time for these things to happen.
I'm just grateful for the opportunity to say goodbye--at least for now--to those of you unable to watch KCTU-TV.
We've been through a lot, you and I--three presidents, three governors, five U.S. Senators, four engagements, and a couple of mayors.
And, I think, on the whole, we've lived up to the old Native American proverb, and we leave this place better than we found it.
I just wish I had the faith to believe this would last.
The political dialogue in this great nation of ours is probably the worst it's been in over 100 years. And for my small part in contributing to that, I'm sorry. There were a lot of times I could have couched my words better.
And there are others where I regret not speaking more strongly.
When I first came to Wichita in 1989, I felt that I was in exile. For the first few years I lived here, I absolutely hated it.
Then, in 2000, I found my voice. In attempting to deal in good faith with the denizens of the 13th floor of City Hall, I was put off, rebuffed, and, in my humble opinon, betrayed.
These people are supposed to work for all of us. Heck, they weren't even trying.
It was then I realized there are two Wichitas--one for the privileged and special interests, and one for the rest of us.
Even with a new Mayor and City Council, even with a new city manager, you can still hear the contempt in their voices every time you call the manager's office.
The fact that there are people who think the mayor can fire the City Manager. There are people who think the mayor has veto power like a president or a governor...and these people are voting.
And unless something changes, we're about to guarantee ourselves at least four more years of the same.
But I digress. I take a lot of memories with me.
The most striking? Russian President Boris Yeltsin marching up and down in front of a bleacher full of airmen at McConnell, grinning from ear to ear and waving an American flag.
The worst? Getting up early one morning to go to work, and having a police officer stop me and say, "We caught a man with a gun in your back yard."
The biggest surprise? Who knew that when I wrote a series on my vision of Wichita television news, I would end up being news director of a television station several years later.
I'm not going anywhere. I've come to love our beloved Doo-Dah, and I think there's something here worth fighting for. I'm going to keep fighting for this city.
I'll still be at KCTU. And if I have anything to say about it, I'm going to take a page from my mentor Jerry Dunphy and die of a heart attack on my way to work at the age of 87.
Devin and Dwayne, thanks for a great 16 years.

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