The Star - News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area

Readers will note a change in The Star lately. Longtime reporter Roger Lucas is changing roles in his latest attempt at retirement.

The first of what we expect will be many opinion columns by Lucas appears on this page, along with his sense of humor and a certain attitude.

The Star has only been the latest in a long line of newspapers to benefit from Lucas’ writing, his general knowledge of newspapering, and his remarkable productivity, discipline and work ethic.

Before landing here needing something to do, he’d retired as the manager of a paper in Bothell, Washington. Initially, he managed special projects and sold ads, but eventually he hankered to get his hands on a keyboard and started writing.

In the decades since, not much has happened in this community — in local government, police news, interesting people, or just about anything else — that he hasn’t chased down or made better as a story in our pages.

It will be all we can do to fill in where he leaves off, but we will, recalling his stories of past assignments and the impish humor that shapes his approach.

“Take every weird assignment you can get,” Lucas told reporter Jacob Wagner one day.

“Later that day, I walked onto the ice and talked with Ukrainian ice fishermen who began catching fish after fish, calling me their good luck charm in their thick accents,” Wagner recalled.

That’s an indication of the kind of interesting trouble you can get into as a reporter, and Lucas has a career full of it to back up his views. I know a few stories about which I’m sworn to secrecy.

So we’re all looking forward to Roger’s columns, whether they embrace the past or hurl zingers in the present. Just be ready to duck about twice a month or so.

Scott Hunter

editor and publisher