Goodbye … Sort Of

By Sean McVeigh

Almost three and a half years ago, we introduced ourselves to you right here on page 5 for the very first time. The title of that column was, appropriately, “Hello.”

After much internal debate (and trust me, “McVeighing Out” got strong consideration), we decided that it would be fitting to title this column “Goodbye.”

As some of you may have already heard — word travels fast in this town — Jeanne, Pat, Tom and I will be stepping down as owners and publishers of The Rockaway Times. This will be our last issue at the helm.

Late in the classic TV comedy “Parks and Recreation,” there’s an episode where the main character, Leslie Knope, is torn between her current career and the possibility of a new one. In a conversation with her boss and mentor, Ron Swanson, he gives her some pertinent advice: “Never half-ass two things. Whole-ass one thing.”

As always, Ron is right. It’s time for our group to move on and, fortunately, we found some fantastic people ready to take the reins.

We will be passing the torch to Paul King and Margaret Powers. We wish them nothing but the best and have no doubt they will keep The Rockaway Times true to the core mission we spoke about in that very first message: to entertain and inform the people of Rockaway each and every week — First and Free!

I add the qualifier “Sort Of” to the title because although I will no longer be serving as Publisher, I plan on keeping this column going for as long as the new head honchos will have me. I just have this strange itch that can only be scratched 600 words at a time.

The rest of the amazing Rockaway Times team will be remaining intact. That team — specifically Monica, Mary Ellen and Katie — is the main reason we’ve had such success over the years. They know The Rockaway Times. They live and breathe it every single day. Thank you for helping make our time with this great newspaper one heck of a run.

Before we go, we’d also like to take a moment to thank our wonderful advertisers for all the support you’ve given us over the years. You went out on a limb for us, and we can never thank you enough for that. We hope that you will continue to support The Rockaway Times in the future. We believe that this paper matters to the community and we have a feeling that you do too.

And finally, to our dear readers: we are nothing without you. You made us better every single week by holding us to the highest standard — the only standard you deserve.

You know what? This isn’t “goodbye” at all. It’s more like, “See you around.”

“McVeighing Out” would have been so much better!

I’ll be back next week with some more of my random musings.

But for now, on behalf of Pat and Tom McVeigh and Jeanne and Jay Ferriola, we just wanted to say thank you, Rockaway!

We’ll see you on the beach.