Valley Breeze

18 OPINION MARCH 24-30, 2016 | VALLEY BREEZE | CUMBERLAND LINCOLN EDITION Thank you for 20 wonderful years It's a question I get from friends every once in a while: "Did you ever think this would happen?" The first honest answer is "No." The second is, "I really never thought that far ahead." What friends are asking me about is The Valley Breeze, the little 20-page newspaper launched from my living room 20 years ago, on March 27, 1996. On that chilly early spring morning, it was both exhilarating and frightening to take to the streets and deliver the first 10,000 papers. It wasn't with- out planning. I had spent weeks telling business owners what was to come (We even printed a prototype!) and asking not only for their advertising support, but for placement of our papers so readers might easily find them. Most were happy to help. I also recall stand- ing for about three hours at the Dunkin' Donuts drive through on Mendon Road near I-295 that day, as a "captive audience" waited in line for their coffee. I'd chat about our new paper and hand them a copy. It worked pretty well. My wife, Carol, went to RoJack's. Some of my brothers worked other places, too. Also with me that day was Jamie Quinn, a smart young graphic artist who I met at the Fall River Herald News, and who decided to partner with me in the effort. We were also joined by Marcia Green, a smart and hard-working journalist who had only a few months earlier left her post at the Pawtucket Times, where she served as both reporter and city editor. We both lived in Cumberland, and we both knew the parent company of our former employer had no future. (Today, those papers have new ownership.) We knew the numbers from the inside back then, and it was clear that paid daily newspa- pers locally were in a steep decline. It was time to go. We were also joined by Dave Brouillette, a Cumberland newspa- per sales rep who was looking for work. While Dave only spent a few years with us, he was, in fact, the perfect person to help get us off the ground. Brash, quick, and "knowing lots of people," he got the ad sales moving. I'll always be grateful to him. When I faced my first payroll at the kitchen table that week, it only took 15 minutes to phone Barbara Trinidad (she's Barbara Phinney today) and beg for help. A work-from-home mom and bookkeeper with about 20 clients who I first met at the old Cumberland Business Association meetings, she's our controller today. Away from the kitchen table was our "newsroom" at 216 Pound Road, with desks made of cheap hollow-core doors across even- cheaper sawhorses. Jamie had the only powerful computer, and he created the ads. After he went home, I wrote the calendar and put in my photos. I still can see Marcia working on the floor with the fam- ily computer, writing her stories and moving them to floppy discs. (I also recall the family bunny getting loose and chewing on some of the electrical wires. She survived.) There was no business plan: We knew what we wanted to achieve and just kept working. Who is there to thank? I unashamedly repeat a story I've told before, of the day when The Breeze was about six weeks old. As was customary, I'd go out on Thursday evening (our first papers came out on Wednesdays) to move our papers from the bottom to the top of the racks, always making them neat and easy to reach. I showed up at Major Video (remember them?) and was neatening the rack near the counter. A customer had a Breeze in her hand and was wav- ing it excitedly, asking the manager, "Have you seen this? Do you read it? This is the best little paper going!" The manager, Donna, deadpanned while motioning to me, "Tell him. He's the owner." In fact, Marcia and I recall so many people telling us how much they enjoyed the paper in that first year. We weren't used to hearing that in our former lives, and it kept us going. You kept us going. And so first I thank God, whose hand and grace I felt at that Major Video moment, who told me that it was going to be OK. All would be well, He said, for my beautiful wife, who had let me jump into business without a parachute, and for our three young daugh- ters, Michaela, Katelyn and Kristen. It would also be OK for our son yet to come, a boy who some longtime readers might remember as "The Disney baby" I wrote about in May of 1997, telling you all about his two-month-early arrival in Florida. Today, Steve is a fresh- man at URI. Second, I am grateful to you, our readers, from the woman at the video store to all of you still with us today, new young families as well as those who have been with us these 20 years. We are proud to share your good news. Finally, to our hundreds of advertisers, who pay each week for more than 62,000 papers and delivery to you. We also thank them for providing good jobs to dozens of some of the nicest and most professional people you'll ever meet – our employees. Thank you all so much for welcoming us into your homes since 1996. We look forward with confidence to many more years of your friendship, kindness, and support! Ward is publisher of The Valley Breeze newspapers WARD Counting Trump's Republicans Donald Trump has a trust problem and this time it isn't about him. He has to be wonder- ing whether he can trust the establishment Republicans to give him the nod if he fails to muster the 1,237 delegates he needs for the nomination. It's highly unlikely he can garnish all the necessary delegates. Gov. John Kasich won Ohio and Sen. Ted Cruz looks like he'll walk off with the Texas delegation. What's more is that from here on out there are no crossover voters who have boosted Trump victories in earlier rounds since only party regulars can vote in upcoming contests. Given the adversarial nature of some of his fellow Republicans Trump has to be worried about the myriad ways they can deny him the nomination. In Round One at the Convention at least 5 percent of Republican delegates are not committed. If a second vote is required 57 percent of delegates are free to vote for whomever they want. A third vote frees up 81 percent of unbound voters. Under current rules, in addition to receiving a majority of the delegates at these later stages the nominee must have 50 percent of the vote in at least eight states (Mr. Trump has six). Finally, 7 percent of delegates are Republican "homies," i.e. three delegates from each state because of their status as party chair, or national com- mitteeperson who usually tows the party line. The rules can also be amended to work against him. So Mr. Trump – like my mathematician friend Ted Hahn, predictor extraordinaire – is crunching the numbers. Hahn believes that Trump still may bolt the Republican Party if the opposition continues unabated. He sees "trial balloons" in the Trump camp with the candidate asking people to raise their hands to signal that they will stick with him. At the end of last year USA Today /Suffolk University conducted a poll as to whether Trump sup- porters would stick with him. Back then a whopping 68 percent said "yes." Query whether today that number has grown. Mathematically, Hahn entertains the thought that Trump may see a better chance of vic- tory except for one contingency – that the House of Representatives, led by Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan, will end up choos- ing the next president. Despite some "nice talk" between Trump and Ryan, Trump will not carry the votes there. Speaker Ryan also didn't rule himself out as a brokered candi- date. I asked Hahn on March 8, mathematically speaking, what he thought "the Donald" should do. His response was that Trump should maybe co-opt Kasich by promis- ing him the vice-presidential spot which, in turn, would help Trump pick up Ohio in November. Failing to get the Republican delegates ahead of time, Hahn notes, might very well motivate Mr. Trump to have his own "Bullets for Trump Party" wherein he is the only candidate on the ballot, a tactic in which a voter only chooses one candidate to the exclusion of all others. This strategy could yield the 270 (out of 538) electoral votes he would need to by-pass Congress. Hahn would not be surprised to see Mr. Trump's camp entertaining a third party run as they monitor Republican opposition and the polls in the upcoming states. Time will tell. Violet is an attorney and former state attorney general. Poli-Ticks ARLENE VIOLET Volume XXI, Number 1 March 24, 2016 ABOUT US The Valley Breeze Newspapers are a locally owned and operated group of free weekly news - papers serving the people of Cumberland, Lincoln, North Smithfield, Woonsocket, Smithfield, Scituate, Foster, Glocester, North Providence, Pawtucket, R.I., and Blackstone, Mass. Each Thursday, 62,300 copies are distributed to retailers, banks, offices, and restaurants and other busy spots. Circulation is audited by the Circulation Verification Council of St. Louis, Mo. and has earned its "Gold Standard Award." OUR MISSION It is the Mission of The Valley Breeze to facilitate a positive sense of community among the resi - dents of Northern Rhode Island by providing a forum for the free exchange of ideas, and to provide information of local events and neighbors. It is our further Mission to provide the highest quality advertising at the lowest possible cost to retailers, professionals, tradespersons, and other service providers in order to enhance the economi c well-being of our community. Thomas V. Ward, Publisher tward@valleybreeze.com James Quinn, Deputy Publisher jquinn@valleybreeze.com Marcia Green, Editor-in-Chief mgreen@valleybreeze.com Karen Buckley, Advertising Director kbuckley@valleybreeze.com Barbara Phinney, Controller accounting@valleybreeze.com Breeze THE VALLEY @ valleybreeze.com

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