Tim Whyte, General Manager of the Signal (Santa Clarita Valley, CA) writes that it will be 10 years since the passing of their editorial cartoonist, Randy Wicks. His passing prompted the newspaper to create a memorial scholarship fund.
The Randy Wicks Memorial First Amendment Scholarships and their fund-raiser, the SCV Newsmaker Awards, have lasted longer than a lot of marriages. Longer than the average career of an NFL running back. Longer than any person can be president.
On Feb. 3, we?ll celebrate the Newsmakers? 10th anniversary.
It all started with tragic news: The Signal?s editorial cartoonist, Randy Wicks, had died of a heart attack at age 41. Randy was a truly special talent and a good friend to all of us at The Signal. We took the news hard, and in the midst of absorbing the loss of a friend, we had to do something unique to our profession: We had to write about it, and report the news to the community. After the dust settled, then-Signal publisher Will Fleet came up with an idea: Let?s start a First Amendment scholarship in Randy?s memory.
By all accounts, Randy was a sharp cartoonist, well respected and loved in his community. If recollection is correct, the Signal was a very low circulation paper to employ a staff cartoonist, but Randy’s contribution and affect to the community was the reason he was such an asset to the paper. Ten years later, he’s still remembered and missed. There’s got to be a life-lesson in there somewhere.