Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard Tuesday dropped his attempt to keep the printed version of the Tucson Citizen alive.

Goddard filed the suit May 15, claiming Gannett Co. Inc., owner of the Tucson Citizen, and Lee Enterprises, publisher of the Arizona Daily Star, were attempting to silence a news voice in a community in violation of the Newspaper Preservation Act.

Gannett announced that day that it would no longer publish a print version of the Tucson Citizen but would continue a modified Web site of daily commentary and opinion with a weekly insert of editorial content appearing in the Arizona Daily Star.

Goddard had sought a temporary restraining order to keep the Citizen printing and force Gannett to sell it but U.S. District Judge Raner Collins denied the request May 19, saying it was unlikely the AG’s case could succeed.

Collins left the door open for Goddard to refile the case but Tuesday’s action closes it.

“At this point, it was highly unlikely that any outcome of the litigation could lead to the reopening of the Tucson Citizen, elimination of anti-competitive activity or a reestablishment of competitive voices in the Tucson newspaper market,” Goddard spokeswoman Anne Hilby said in a news release Wednesday.

A tall, muscular Egyptian is looking for the perfect match.

Ideal person will have a large yard, fun-loving nature and a sense of humor.

The mystery Egyptian is the massive Sphinx, the only statue left at Magic Carpet Golf, 6125 E. Speedway Blvd.

The rest of the concrete giants have found new homes, thanks to Tucson artist Charlie Spillar. Spillar was recently honored by the Mayor and City Council for his statue adoption efforts.

Want to give the Sphinx a whirl?

E-mail Charlie Spillar at cspillar@q.com.

Tucson’s Charlie Spillar may not have parted the Red Sea, but he has moved mountainous structures.

Spillar found new homes for a gaggle of giant golf course statues that were destined for the dump.

Spillar’s efforts have been noticed, now very publicly with a certificate awarded to him by the Tucson Mayor and City Council at Tuesday’s Council meeting.

The structures included a 50,000-pound tiki head, a 17-foot monkey, a 15,000-pound T-Rex, a sizable skull and a behemoth bull. Many went to private homes, others to area businesses.

Artist Lee Koplin created the cement statues more than 30 years ago and they were part of Magic Carpet Golf, 6125 E. Speedway Blvd., which is now slated to become a car lot.

“I did a sculpture that took more than 1,000 hours and it ended up in a landfill,” said artist Spillar, who doubles as the spokesman for the 1920s-era fantasyland Valley of the Moon.

“That’s the main reason I have been trying to save these Magic Carpet Golf gentle creatures from a similar fate.”

_____

I would have loved to have one of the things in my yard but I’m burdened with an HOA.

Any comment from folks who took one of the statues to a new home?

What about from folks who have the statues as a new neighbor?

Would you want to live next to a 17-foot monkey?

The Tucson Citizen as we knew it is officially no more.

The print edition, which could have been reinstated if a judge ruled in its favor, was denied Tuesday afternoon.

The idea that the Citizen could come back actually made me a bit giddy. The thought of being back rubbing elbows and ideas with those I miss at this cavernous office was an exciting premise.

It would have also been quite interesting to see, if the judge had ruled to continue the print edition, how one would have been pasted, scrambled and cobbled together for publication the next day.

I figured I get to luck out and sneak a photo of my dog on the cover.

One more question was whether or not my pals who had been laid off would have come back if requested or walked away in a rebellious huff.

Monday’s hearing, which almost put me to sleep, did bring up some interesting information:

• Gannett said issuing a print edition of the Citizen was losing the company $10,000 each day

• The Attorney General’s representative argued that newspapers were worth saving because they print Macy’s coupons

• The judge has a granddaughter he had to pick up from school at 5 p.m. and he seemed like he’d make a cool grandfather.

At least those are the highlights I most remember.

Some former staffers stuck with a measly two week’s severance pay are kind of bummed.

Those who had longer, like photographer Val Canez who worked here for more than a decade, had a different take.

“I’m kind of relieved it’s over,” he said on the phone as he was calling to confirm the judge’s decision.

The saga began back in January when we got the first announcement of pending closure. The suspense dragged on worse than weekends between soap operas.

“It was like one big, long pin prick,” Canez said, “and the pin kept getting deeper.”

What do you think?

Are you relieved the historic saga is finally over?

If the judge ruled it back into print, could the Citizen have regained its former glory?

Should Gannett have sold it for the $200,000 offer, well below the $800,000 it was asking?

The sheeny man in his sheeny wagon used to be a staple in Polish communities of Michigan.

He would trek down the alleyways with his cart, pulled by a horse if he had the money, or pulled by himself if he did not.

The sheeny man would be glad to collect rags, scraps and odds and ends. Other accounts have him sharpening knives, scissors and tools.

I only know the sheeny man from my mom’s stern admonishments that our car would look like a sheeny wagon if my brother and I kept taping paper on the back windows to block out the sun.

“The sheeny man is going to get you,” was a threat often used, much like the threat of the boogie man is thrown about today.

One account of the sheeny man can be found at wowthathadtohurt.blogspot.com/2007/11/here-comes-sheeny-man.html

The blogger shares her story of how she would sneak things to the sheeny man when he regularly visited her grandmother’s house.

Sheeny men could be of any race, creed or age, although they tended to be older guys with tattered clothing.

I never heard of the word as a racial slur until it was pointed out by a few readers in my school bus commentary (www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/breakingnews/116722.php).

Upon further investigation, I found the word was, in fact, once a derogatory word used for Jews, although that was not the usage I intended.

The word sheeny is of unknown origin and had its heyday as a vulgar term around the turn of the 19th century.

It has since fallen from popularity as a slur, but is still remembered by those who recall the rag men in alleys of Hamtramck and Detroit.

More on the sheeny man: listsearches.rootsweb.com/th/read/MI-POLISH/2007-05/1178062727

Tucson reacts

The Citizen staff called area political, business and cultural leaders for their reaction to Friday’s announcement that the Citizen will cease printing a paper. Their comments follow:

“Well, it’s too bad it had to be you guys. I honestly have always thought the evening paper here was far superior to the morning paper.”

Bob McMahon

owner, Metro Restaurants

“It’s a sad day for our region. We’re losing an institution that was a watchdog of our local governments. We’re losing competition between newspapers that led to more aggressive reporting and better information. We’re losing a part of our history and our collective memory. The Citizen and all of Pima County deserved much better from Gannett.”

Ann Day

Pima County supervisor

“The Tucson Citizen is the oldest newspaper in Arizona. It’s a large loss for future readers and for us who have depended on the Citizen every day of our lives.”

Gabrielle Giffords

U.S. congresswoman

“That’s a dark day in Tucson’s history. The Citizen always gave balanced coverage. That has always been very healthy for Tucson. You lose a second voice, a second opinion. Two voices are better than one as far as I’m concerned.”

Jack Camper

executive director, Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce

“The presence of two daily newspapers in a city guarantees there will be accurate and objective news reporting. . . . The loss of the Citizen puts the responsibility on the Daily Star to do the task well. ”

Glenn Lyons

Downtown Tucson Partnership

“I just think it’s a real blow to the community, a real loss. I think it will diminish the level of balance and independent journalism that we need to keep the community informed.

“I think the Citizen has always done a good job of digging for the facts and making important information accessible. The quality of the local news reporting at the Citizen has always stood out. It’s a real loss.”

Karin Uhlich

City Councilwoman

As a small nonprofit theatre business owner it was writers like you, Rogelio (Olivas), and Chuck Graham that made a tremendous difference to our organization. The Citizen gave all live theatres in town an equal footing. The Citizen was willing to listen to a small organization in the Tucson arts community by covering or critiquing their next production. I for one, as an executive director of a 25-year-old community theatre, whose members worked thousands of hours to bring theatre to Tucson, will miss the Citizen for its support.

Priscilla Marquez

former executive director of Catalina Players

“Even when I was a reporter and anchor, one of the things I always told students was you don’t get all your news from television. I’m truly going to miss the Citizen. I always looked to the Citizen for clear, straightforward reporting of what was happening downtown.”

Nina Trasoff

city councilwoman

“As a Tucsonan, elected official and a proponent of citizen engagement, I am deeply saddened by the closing of our state’s oldest newspaper and will have the working families impacted by the shutdown in my thoughts during these though economic times.”

Rodney Glassman

city councilman

“Anytime you lose an institution in the media like a newspaper that’s been publishing more than 100 years is sad. There’s bound to be a void in the coverage. I understand the feeling of abandonment of employees, but also in the community, not getting information.”

Richard Elías

Board of Supervisors chairman

“The more media outlooks citizens have the better,” Romero said. “It’s really important that we have different perspectives from different newspapers.”

Regina Romero

Tucson councilwoman

Referring to the Web site, which will offer only opinion pieces: “That’s great. I’ll make sure I pay attention to that.”

“More and more people are getting their news online these days.”

Ray Carroll

Pima County supervisor

Jilted buyer wants to stop closure action by Gannett

Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Tucson late Friday to stop the closure of the Tucson Citizen, which was announced by the Citizen’s owners early Friday.

The lawsuit said closing the Citizen stemmed from an agreement between Gannett and Lee Enterprises Inc., owner of the Arizona Daily Star, to eliminate competition and increase profits to both companies.

The case has been assigned to Judge Raner Collins, but Goddard said in a phone interview Friday night that his staff could not reach Collins to “express the urgency of the case.”

“Usually there is some district judge to handle emergency motions and we are trying to find one,” Goddard said. “But I’m not at all certain we will be able to find one; it is a small panel in Tucson.”

Kate Marymont, vice president of news for the Gannett Co. Inc., told Citizen employees Friday that the last print edition would be Saturday. Gannett will continue to run a “modified” Web site of daily commentary and opinion with a weekly insert of editorial content appearing in the Star, she said.

She said two people accepted positions with www.tucsoncitizen.com but declined to say how many staffers the Web site would eventually hire.

“That’s my starting point,” Marymont said.

A preliminary job description for those hired showed that the site would focus on the “watercooler buzz” of the day.

Staffers would likely link to other Web sites and blogs, offer an opinion and open the discussion to commenters in an online forum. The site would also incorporate social networking, the document showed.

The staff will be responsible for defining the Web site’s form, Marymont said. “I’ve left it to them.”

The recently launched Metromix entertainment hub will continue on a “provisional basis” only, Marymont said.

Gannett’s joint operating agreement with Lee Enterprises Inc. also will terminate Saturday, although the two companies will continue as business partners in Tucson Newspapers, a subsidiary that handles all noneditorial operations for both papers. The JOA has been in effect since 1940.

Under the arrangement, Gannett takes the unusual step of partnering with a newspaper publication in which it has no editorial say to retain its profit interest in the operation.

Lee and Gannett will continue to share equally in the operating costs and profits of Tucson Newspapers, also known as TNI Partners, just as they did with the JOA, CEO Mike Jameson said. TNI, though, will no longer receive the limited antitrust immunity offered JOAs under the Newspaper Preservation Act.

The 1970 act gives newspapers operating under a joint operating agreement an exemption from federal antitrust laws in the hopes of increasing editorial diversity in cities and towns.

The announcement brings to a close months of uncertainty for the paper. Gannett announced in January that it was offering the Citizen archives, Internet domain name and lists of subscribers and advertisers to potential buyers, but not its 50 percent share of the JOA. If no buyer came forward, it intended to close the paper March 21.

On March 17, Gannett delayed the closure, saying “viable” buyers had come forward. The paper has operated on a day-to-day basis since.

Marymont informed Citizen employees of the closure at 9:30 a.m. Friday, about 30 minutes after notifying interim Editor Jennifer Boice.

“This is not about the journalism,” Marymont said. “Do not in any way take this as a reflection on your journalism. You have done outstanding journalism for decades.”

Laid-off employees will receive a week’s pay for every year they’ve worked for the paper up to 26 weeks, with a two-week minimum.

Boice, who has worked at the Citizen for 25 years and was appointed interim editor in July, could not hold back tears when making the announcement

“It’s been a difficult time,” Boice said. “But it’s also been fun. We’ve had people, even when our time was limited, going all out on stories, doing an incredible job of keeping the newspaper not only going, but good. And I am really grateful to all the people here who have put forth their heart and soul and energy in letting us go out with our head held high.”

Goddard was informed of the Citizen’s pending closure when Stephen Hadland, CEO of the Santa Monica Media Co. and the final bidder in the sale, wrote a letter Friday morning asking Goddard to intervene.

“The Tucson Citizen has been systematically destroyed by its owners and I believe it remains a viable and popular newspaper in the community,” he wrote.

Goddard said Hadland’s request was compelling, especially after he spoke with Gannett representatives.

“Their lawyer was unable to tell me how the proposed Web site would serve Tucson as a separate editorial voice,” Goddard said. “We took action because there was nothing in front of us that indicated any commitment to a vigorous continuing presence for the Citizen in some form.”

Reached Friday at his Santa Monica office, Hadland said, “We were, we are and we remain a bona fide buyer. We made a substantial cash offer; we later amended the offer to close to half a million dollars and were told that nothing less than $800,000 would be acceptable.”

In addition, Hadland said, he was “amazed” that Gannett was shutting the printed paper and going to an online-only operation because during negotiations, “a printed edition was an absolute requirement of Gannett’s.”

“This is the biggest perversion of the Newspaper Preservation Act that I have ever witnessed,” said Hadland, who publishes five weekly papers in the Los Angeles area.

Goddard said the arrangement between Gannett and Lee did not, in his mind, “meet either the spirit or the intent of the (antitrust) exemption” granted through the federal act.

The U.S. Justice Department began an investigation into the sale of the Citizen in February, when potential buyers told Justice representatives they were being told by Gannett’s sales broker that the Citizen wasn’t a good deal because Gannett wasn’t selling its interest in the JOA.

Marymont confirmed discussions with Justice were ongoing for the past month, but would not say Justice insisted on having a Web site instead of completely closing the Citizen’s presence in Tucson.

She said Gannett had not determined the length of commitment to the new Web site, and that there “is no legal document” saying the site has to remain operational for a certain time.

“In our conversations with the Justice Department, it was agreed that it was important we sustain a second voice in the community,” Marymont said.

Justice Department spokeswoman Gina Talamona said Friday that Justice “closed its investigation today and no enforcement action was taken.” She would give no further details.

National media experts had predicted the paper would never sell because, without the JOA, the Citizen was all loss and no profit.

Thus the paper appeared poised to be another casualty of a newspaper industry struggling to survive amid declining advertising revenue and Internet competition.

But the Citizen defied the odds, at least for a while, because of the federal investigation.

At least five people expressed interest in buying the Citizen. All decided against bidding when they couldn’t persuade Gannett to include the JOA in the sale.

The Citizen was started in 1870 as a weekly, the Arizona Citizen, preceding Arizona’s statehood. Its reporters were on the front lines covering everything from the raids of Pancho Villa to the first university-led space mission.

In its last two months, the paper reported on its own predicted demise.

“A newspaper doesn’t close, it dies, and the death leaves a hole in the community,” said Boice.

———

Other troubled newspapers

• Hearst Corp. printed the last edition of Seattle’s oldest newspaper, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, on March 16, turning it into an Internet-only news outlet with 20 staff members, down from more than 150.

• E.W. Scripps Co. in February closed the 150-year-old Rocky Mountain News, one of two daily newspapers in Denver.

• Employees of the San Francisco Chronicle were told in February to prepare for closure or massive layoffs.

• The Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune and The Philadelphia Inquirer sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in recent months.

• The Ann Arbor News announced in April it will close in July. In its place, the Web-based media company AnnArbor.com LLC will be launched, publishing continuously online and a print edition twice a week. About 272 employees remain at the News, and experts estimate that will fall to fewer than 50 for the Web venture.

By Carli Brosseau, Renee Schafer Horton

Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard shortly before 5 p.m. Friday filed a complaint in U.S. District Court in Tucson to stop the closure of the Tucson Citizen.

A motion for a temporary restraining order is in the process of being filed, said Anne Hilby, spokeswoman for Goddard’s office.

The case has been assigned to Raner Collins, Hilby said, “but we do not yet know if he will rule on it before tomorrow morning.”

“The process has been initiated,” Hilby said. “We will be notified by the court as how Judge Collins will rule.”

Collins could not be reached for comment.

Kate Marymont, vice president of news for Gannett Co. Inc., visited the Citizen newsroom Friday morning to say the paper would print its final issue Saturday, continuing with a “modified” Web site focused on opinion and commentary.

When asked about Goddard’s action, Marymont said she could not comment without seeing the actual filing.

“I have little to say, I’d need to see what was filed and speak with our lawyers,” Marymont said.

Goddard was informed of the Citizen’s pending closure when Stephen Hadland, CEO of the Santa Monica Media Co. and the final bidder in the sale announced by Gannett in January, wrote a letter Friday morning asking Goddard to intervene.

“I am requesting the Arizona Attorney General’s office file a Temporary Restraining Order preventing the Gannett Corporation from closing the Citizen and require Gannett to continue printing the newspaper pending a sale to a qualified buyer,” Hadland wrote. “The Tucson Citizen has been systematically destroyed by its owners and I believe it remains a viable and popular newspaper in the community.”

Hadland has contended from his first bid that Gannett was not serious about selling the paper because it was only offering the name of the paper, its Web site, archives and a subscriber list, but not the 50 percent interest in the joint operating agreement it has with Lee Enterprises Inc., owner of the Arizona Daily Star.

The JOA has been in effect since 1940 and allows Lee and Gannett to share equally in the operating costs and profits of Tucson Newspapers, also known as TNI Partners, a subsidiary that handles all noneditorial operations for both papers.

Hadland,who said his bid for the Citizen “assests” was $400,000, considers his media company a qualified and viable buyer, something Marymont denied in speaking with employees Friday morning.

“In the end, there was no buyer,” she said.

Hadland said in a phone interview that if a paper goes without printing one day, it loses all value and that is why he urged Goddard to act quickly.

By Carli Brosseau, Renee Schafer Horton

James “Jimbo” Krakowiak, 56

Print supervisor

37 years at TNI, 15 printing the Tucson Citizen

“Everyone calls me Jimbo,” says Krakowiak, who is deaf and attended the Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and Blind. He worked in ASDB’s print shop as a student and discovered “that’s what I wanted to do.”

He started working for the newspaper company as an apprentice when the Citizen was located downtown and the paper was printed on a letter press with lead “plates” that weighed about 40 pounds each.

Now, the printing is done by digital computing; the aluminum plates are slim and weigh about 1 ounce. He worked the 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. shift.

Krakowiak has been a pressroom supervisor for more than 20 years and the pressmen have learned to use sign language, gestures and facial expressions to communicate.

“He’s an awesome pressman,” said Tim Torres, who accompanied him to Detroit in 1995 to run the presses there during a strike.

Krakowiak said he’s sad the Citizen is closing.

L.G. Ward, 60

Pressman

30 years at TNI, 5 printing the Citizen

“It took me 24 years to get on the Citizen and five years later, they’re taking it away from me,” Ward says. “It’s like losing a relative.”

He works the 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. shift. The Citizen was off the presses by 9 a.m., he said.

The remainder of his work day is spent printing sections of the Arizona Daily Star.

Ward started in printing working for a business forms company and got the TNI job through a softball team buddy who recruited him for the team and to TNI.

Ward said the automation of the printing system has made pressmen’s jobs much easier.

Colored inks were loaded onto the presses manually, through hoses and by the bucket. Now the inks are stored a floor below and move through hoses and onto the press.

Also, instead of the toggle switches used to adjust the paper while the presses roll, adjustments occur at the press of a button.

“You don’t just come in and figure it out in one day,” he said.

Bill Navarette, 59

40 years at TNI, 11 years printing the Citizen

Navarette started learning the printing business at Pueblo High School and worked for a local printer, printing the Arizona Daily Wildcat while he was still in high school.

He came to TNI in 1968 and had to learn to adapt to a computerized press when the newspaper moved to 4850 S. Park Ave. and a digital operation.

When the presses began to roll 35 years ago, they printed 1,000 papers a minute.

A 1-ton roll of newsprint is good for about 20,000 copies of the Tucson Citizen. Navarette moves the newsprint onto a trolley, which moves on a track to the presses and loads automatically.

“It’s like I’m losing a friend,” he said about the Citizen closing.

“It doesn’t seem possible. It won’t hit me until I won’t see it anymore.”

Tim Torres, 52

Pressman

25 years at TNI, 2 years printing the Tucson Citizen

Torres remembers his first day as a printing apprentice as “nerve-wracking.”

He had “the first day jitters, like with any job you go into. You don’t want to mess up.”

Since then, Torres has worked as a press operator, foreman and supervisor.

He’s printed both the Arizona Daily Star on the night shift and the Tucson Citizen on the day shift.

Torres enjoys his co-workers.

“The people make it interesting and I have fun on the job,” he said.

Like his co-workers, he said he’s sad to see the Citizen shut down.

Artie Gonzales,

ex-compositor, now a dispatch driver, 37 years at TNI, on the Citizen and Arizona Daily Star

“The Citizen was an icon,” Gonzales said. “I grew up here and used to deliver it when I was in sixth or seventh grade. His after-school route near Tucson High and Roskruge Elementary schools started at around 3:30 and took him about 45 minutes.

When he started at TNI, the paper’s pages were composed with hand-set “hot” lead type and the pages had to be read upside down and backward.

Now the pages are composed on a computer screen, a negative of the page is made and transferred to an aluminum page or “plate.”

It was fun in the old days, Gonzales said.

He’ll miss the editors he worked with in the “back shop.”

“I’ve known these guys for more than 25 years. It’s gonna hurt. You grew up knowing them, joking around with them, telling them stories. The fun’s gone now.”

Gonzales said the end of the Citizen makes him wonder what’s next for him.

“We don’t know what’s going to happen to us,” he said.

Tay Bell, 49

Newspaper hawker, 10 years

Bell is an Army Special Forces veteran with a steel plate in his head from a four-wheeler accident. He would rather work than collect disability, he said.

He’s been selling the Tucson Citizen and the morning paper for 10 years at intersections in the county, north and northwest of Tucson city limits.

He’s worked for years with fellow hawkers Manuel Garcia, 53, and “Mo,” who always wore a Stetson and a crisply ironed shirt with his jeans and cowboy boots.

In March, Bell said, Mo told him he was done with selling the newspaper and going off to California to be with family.

“He has an aortic aneurysm,” Bell said. He came by to say goodbye.

The other member of their trio, Garcia, 53, used to work the same intersection at another corner.

Garcia, who had polio and whose legs are bent nearly 60 degrees, stood for seven hours a day, like they did.

But in November, Bell said, a Pima County sheriff’s deputy asked to see their IDs.

Garcia, who came to Tucson in 1990 from Mexico City, didn’t have any and the deputy called the Border Patrol, Bell said. A Border Patrol agent picked Garcia up at his bus stop and Bell presumes he was deported to Mexico. He hasn’t seen him or heard from him since.

Bell said his best tip was $165 from an older man who simply pressed the bills into his hand as he drove by, without a word.

Bell said he will be sorry to see the Citizen stop publishing.

“I’ve always been one to read the Citizen,” he said. “If I read the paper, I read the Citizen.”

University of Arizona basketball does not begin or end with Lute Olson, despite the four Final Fours and one NCAA title to his credit.

Olson’s 24 seasons at the helm of UA basketball cast a giant shadow, one that perhaps obscures another principal contributor to all that is Arizona basketball today.

Former UA star and current Wildcat broadcaster Bob Elliott sums it up this way: “If there’s not a Fred Snowden, there’s probably not a Lute Olson.”

Elliott explains that Olson was already a Final Four coach who had his choice of schools to move on to – and that Snowden’s success here showed Lute the possibilities.

“It’s a lot easier to go to a program where the fire had already been lit. . . . Lute knew the fire had been lit by Freddy,” Elliott says.

Snowden is the man who took the Cats from the 3,000 seats or so of Bear Down Gym to brand new McKale Center and its nearly 15,000 seats in 1973.

It was a lot of pressure for a rookie head coach. Not only was he tasked with filling McKale and creating a national reputation for the program, he also had the added glare of publicity that came from being the first African-American head coach in men’s Division I basketball.

Snowden’s first recruiting class, known as the Kiddie Korps and featuring five freshman starters, took Tucson by storm. By the time McKale opened at midseason, Tucson’s love affair with basketball was in full bloom and sellouts were the norm.

“Fred was the catalyst,” says Jerry Holmes, an assistant coach under Snowden.

“The Fred Snowden regime in that time started the tradition of Arizona basketball, without question,” Holmes says.

Success built quickly, as Snowden’s breakneck offense captivated Tucson.

“The community really bought into this team. . . . It was the most exciting time in UA sports history,” Holmes says.

Two members of the Kiddie Korps, Eric Money and Coniel Norman, left early for the NBA, and another, John Irving, transferred. But two of them remained to take the Wildcats to then-unheard of heights: the final eight in the NCAA Tournament and within eight minutes of the Final Four.

That 1976 team, which featured Elliott at center, was led by Kiddie Korps holdovers Al Fleming and Jim Rappis. In what was certainly Snowden’s finest season, his Cats beat John Thompson’s Georgetown Hoyas in the first round. It was also the first meeting of two black head coaches in the NCAA Tournament.

Next up was Nevada-Las Vegas, ranked No. 3 in the country. The Cats won 114-109 in overtime, propelled by what may have been the finest backcourt performance ever by a Wildcat twosome. Rappis and junior Herm Harris combined for 55 points on 23 of 36 field-goal shooting and 21 assists. They did it without the benefit of the three-point shot.

Then came mighty UCLA in the West Region final, on its home court at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles. The Bruins broke open a tie game with eight minutes to go and went on to earn the Final Four berth.

“It was the first team in Arizona history to go to the Elite Eight. That set a benchmark,” says Elliott.

Combined with Olson’s first UA Final Four squad in 1988 and the 1997 NCAA title team, they form a trio of milestones that new UA coach Sean Miller will try to surpass.

“The milestone is to win two national titles. Everything else has been done,” says Elliott.

Employees remaining when the end came and their start dates:

Baker, Wayne 06/27/06

Barrett, Elsa 04/14/82

Bermudez, Arnie 12/18/06

Boice, Jennifer 08/22/83

Bracamonte, Renee 01/29/04

Brazzle, Ken 09/17/85

Brosseau, Carli 12/31/07

Brownstone, Lorrie 09/09/96

Buckley, Dan 08/03/87

Bustamante, Mary 08/29/78

Caccamise, Michael 01/22/03

Cañez, Val 01/04/93

Carlock, Judy 05/26/80

Chavez, Dianna 03/02/98

Chesnick, Mike 12/04/95

Clemens, Bill 07/26/93

Denogean, Anne 11/01/93

Douglas, Gawain 03/10/03

Duffy, Garry 03/26/01

Dunham, Kristina 03/05/07

Echavarri, Fernanda 05/05/08

Evans, Mark 01/22/07

Fimbres, Gabrielle 01/07/85

Fischer, Alan 03/26/07

Flick, A. J. 10/11/93

Gallegos, Xavier 02/17/74

Gargulinski, Ryn 01/14/07

Gimino, Anthony 12/27/04

Graham, Chuck 03/11/74

Grammer, Geoff 02/20/07

Grzasko, Rose-Mary 09/01/86

Harris, Randy 04/25/94

Higgins, Polly 02/17/00

Horton, Renee Schafer 09/24/07

Johnston, Bruce 05/21/73

Kimble, Mark 12/16/74

Kornman, Sheryl 09/28/99

Lee, Bryan 12/31/86

Luber, Diane 11/01/04

Lum, Jennifer 03/27/06

McVay, MJ 06/02/98

Medina, Francisco 08/02/99

Moredich, John 08/13/00

Olivas, Rogelio 08/06/90

Petruska, Dave 02/07/77

Poole, B. 08/04/98

Pugno, Monica 08/03/06

Rivera, Steve 08/14/87

Rochon, Joel 05/06/74

Ross, Otto 08/29/08

Rowley, Heidi 01/06/03

Sagara, Eric 05/26/02

Schmelzle, Michael 07/17/99

Schwalbach, Paul 08/27/79

Smith, Dylan 05/16/05

Stanton, Billie 04/29/04

Stauffer, Tom 01/15/07

Suarez, Raymond 08/28/08

Teibel, David 07/13/81

Todd, Jan 07/12/93

Truelsen, Michael 07/11/94

Truelsen, Teresa 03/18/96

Vitu, Teya 11/24/00

Watt, Mary 08/06/07

Weber, Warren 01/02/01

Weis, P.K. 03/14/73

West, Jennifer 04/28/08

Wyckoff, Jim 11/16/72

We have had the Tucson Citizen delivered since I got here in 1961. It has been my “wind down” source of pleasure after a day at work; my primary source of local print news those 48 years. Often I have seen stories not covered elsewhere.

The reporters are some of the best I’ve ever read. I am going to miss walking down the drive to get it every afternoon.

Earl Wettstein

I started getting the paper in 1989 and liked the afternoon. You read a lot of news today that you will see in the next day’s morning paper. I also like the comics in the Citizen which you do not see in the morning paper. The main reason I stayed with the afternoon paper is the comics.

My subscription runs through September. Will you be switching delivery to the morning paper or am I stuck without a paper? Az Daily Star needs to use the comics from the Citizen.

Joe Undzilo

The Tucson Citizen is an old friend that has come to our house for 50 years. It is with disappointment that I will say goodbye to an important part of my life.

The Citizen was full of things that I enjoyed. I am a Wildcat supporter, so I always checked the happenings. I am an educator, so I always follow what the schools are reporting. I never miss the comic page because the day isn’t complete without Peanuts and Dennis the Menace. Also, Cal Thomas is tops in my book, and I always read his editorials. Now, where will I be able to read his thoughts on a weekly basis?

There is so much that I will miss. And now I won’t have the help hints and suggestions for where to shop for meal preparations, since I always check the ads.

Thanks to all the many people who have made this paper possible for many years. May each of the employees continue their activities to provide papers under a new name somewhere. This is a sad goodbye for me and many others in the Tucson area.

Peggy Powell

I am so sad as I have been collecting the Citizen’s articles for all the special occasions in our lives, as I am sure many people around the city does. I know my mom saved her copy of the paper when Japan surrendered and I know the Historical Society has papers from the past as that is the perfect way to track our history. I have all the copies of the paper when my kids were born.

This is a sad time for the city to see this paper go away. It is over – what? – 100 years old?

I am so sad to see the Tucson Citizen close its doors – isn’t there something the community can do to make it not close?

Beki Quintero

Just wanted to tell you about my family’s experiences with the Citizen. Three years ago, I drove my miniature horses in the Rodeo Parade. The paper chose our picture to put on the front page of one of the interior sections. That was really fun for me.

The most exciting thing happened Sept. 11, 2004. That was my daughter’s wedding day. The paper chose to put her on the front page pictured in her wedding dress. They used her wedding as a symbol of life going on after the nation’s 9/11 tragic experience. That made the day extra special for her and all of our family.

I want to thank the Citizen for their service to our community.

Becky Blankenship

For 50 years, the Tucson Citizen has been my favorite after-dinner reading. I moved to Tucson in 1959 as a young bride and always treasured that after-dinner time of learning what was happening in my town, country and world. You covered everything from astronomy to the zoo. You entertained me and helped me decide where to shop. You published our family births, marriages, and obituaries. Thank you.

Ellen A. Frank

I have lived in Tucson since 1972. Even as a freshman at Sahuaro High School, my quiet joy each day was scooping up the afternoon newspaper in the driveway, filling a bowl with far more than a recommended serving of cheapo ice cream, and settling down on the couch for my comfort moment. Reading the Tucson Citizen has remained my moment all these years; somehow the rustling of the papers smooths away the frazzles of the day as no other. I cannot imagine filling the hollow space in my sense of well-being. Curling up with a faded morning paper as the afternoon sun tilts in through the western windows will seem, hmmm, tepid. Alas,

Christy Voelkel

I just can’t believe you will not be delivered to our house every day. You are a REAL local newspaper, the kind I cut up and send to my kids in North Carolina and Los Angeles almost every week. Gabrielle Fimbres has been a favorite of mine for years. She is intelligent and sensitive. We trust your food reviews and count on Steve Rivera and Anthony Gimino to be fair and fun. I even love Mark Kimble on the radio. Truth be told, except for Argus Hamilton, I will miss you all so much. Thank you for caring about our community for all these years. I can provide albondigas to any of you who would like to come by for interviewing coaching.

Gloria Alvillar

For the past 22 years, I have kept the history of the Tucson Children’s Museum by clipping news from our local papers and any other source that crossed my desk. By far, the scrapbooks show a far larger number of clippings from the Citizen. Even nicer, in my opinion, is frequently your paper would have interesting photographs of our events – undoubtedly these catch one’s eye faster than the print data. The Tucson Children’s Museum shall certainly miss your support for this unique museum.

Dr. Evelyn Carswell-Bing

Founder, Tucson Children’s Museum

When we first moved from California to Green Valley a little over five years ago, we researched which newspaper would be the best match for us – for news, editorials – and the comic section. The comic section was the big swing vote! So, even though we both enjoy reading the newspaper first thing in the morning, we easily adjusted to “saving” the afternoon Tucson Citizen until the next morning.

We have since grown to appreciate the articles by Anne T. Denogean (straight talk), Anthony Gimino (thoughtful and educational sports insight), and Ryn Gargulinski (about-town humor) as well as the efforts by all the staff to improve the newspaper and keep it going. We will miss you!

Bob and Lois Hallinan

I learned to read by my father reading the Citizen to me, showing me the pictures and reading the captions underneath.

I got my comics habit, which lasts to this day, by reading the Saturday funnies.

While there is something good to be said about reading various newspapers online, that will never replace the actual, physical version of those papers.

First thing I do when visiting another city is to pick up a copy of their newspaper.

There is no better source to aid in finding out what’s going on in that city than their newspaper.

The Citizen is responsible for all that.

Robert Diedrich

I was a paperboy for the Tucson Daily Citizen, and I am showing my age by proudly admitting it, in the early ’70s.

It was my first job and I still have fond memories of gathering at the “drop” site at a friend’s house in midtown Tucson. There we met, folded and bagged the papers, and were off. I, on a red Schwinn, complete with baskets, purchased from Kittle’s Bike Shop. Rain or shine, or dogs, the Citizen had to be delivered . . . and it was. We were also responsible for the Sunday Arizona Star and I must thank my mom for her invaluable help and car on some of those cold, dark mornings.

The job afforded my friends and I extra pocket money for the essentials of the day. Cinnamon toothpicks, “clackers,” 8 tracks, saladitos, and mix and match sodas from Pleasure Time.

It will truly be a sad day for Tucson should the Citizen go the way of Marshall KGUN, Jácome’s and Bob’s Big Boy on Speedway. Besides, the Citizen was always a better read than The Star.

Sincerely,

Michael G. Ciaccio

I can’t tell you how disappointed my family is that the Tucson Citizen will be closing down after having been in business for so many years. We much prefer the Tucson Citizen to the AZ Daily Star for local news and information on upcoming events in town. The articles have been wonderful and interesting and the photography is so stunning on some articles that I’ve saved many of them in a scrapbook to show out-of-town visitors so they can get a feel for Tucson.

I hope that if the Tucson Citizen really is going to be closed down that the AZ Daily Star will incorporate sections of the Citizen into their (very skinny these days) newspaper and give some of the employees of the Tucson Citizen jobs!

This just seems to me like another example of Tucson not appreciating what is has got going for it and so far as articles I’ve recently read about Web readers putting other newspapers out of business, all I can say is there is nothing like sitting down at the kitchen table in the morning with your coffee (or tea) and reading a real newspaper.

A very disappointed Tucson Citizen reader,

Jan McKeighen

Years ago the Tucson Daily Citizen featured a weekly children’s crossword puzzle called “Citizen Charlie.” Upon completion of the puzzle, one would then mail it as an entry for a weekly drawing.

As many times as I tried, my winning a drawing just didn’t occur. Regardless, the process of doing the crossword with the anticipation of winning a prize gave me enjoyment.

Thank you Citizen Charlie!

Tim O’Connor

Per your request for memories of the Citizen, I can tell you many. In the late ’40s and into the mid-1950s, I sold the paper at the corner of Speedway and Park. The paper was 10 cents a copy then and I spent many afternoons yelling: “Get your Tucson Daily Citizen right here. Just 10 cents a copy. Get the paper right here.”

My very best memory of the Citizen happened in the mid-1950s. I was fortunate enough to attend the Triangle Ranch Camp through the YMCA and was there for many years, first, as a camper, then as kitchen help to our great chef Tommy Hudson. Then after a 2-year run in the kitchen, I was promoted to a tent counselor by Mr. Chick Hawkins. Chick Hawkins was the “y” and chief of Triangle Y Ranch Camp.

During one of the many summers spent at the camp outside of Oracle, a reporter and a photographer from the Citizen came to camp to do a story and take pictures of it. I was lucky enough to be chosen as one of the boys to show an archery layout. I was pretty good at archery at the time and the Citizen made me the happiest alive. My picture was on the front page of the paper. With my bow and arrow at the ready to shoot at the target. WOW! The front page demonstrating archery. I am now 65 years old and have forgotten a lot over the years, but I will never forget that evening paper and I was on the front page.

Many thanks for giving me those memories and I am so very sorry to see the demise of the Tucson Daily Citizen.

Thank You,

Curt Melton

The impending demise of the Tucson Citizen tolls a note of sadness for many of us who have benefited from its place in our community. This longstanding, historic periodical offered a forum for the presentation of news and other items of a local bent. More than any other publication in this town, the Citizen encouraged its readers to contribute from their hearts and their pens.

It was quite by accident (thanks to a rather inept carrier of the morning paper) that we even developed a relationship with the Citizen – one that sustained us for over 30 years. Just 10 years ago (Thanksgiving 1998), I submitted my first contribution in the form of a guest opinion eulogizing our friend George Moffat, a Tucson businessman and singer who had recently passed away.

Subsequent articles I was motivated to write included pieces on the National WWII Memorial and the Greatest Generation, eulogies commemorating the lives and contributions of Rudy Thompson, O.M. Hartsell, Rex Redhouse and Maggie Dixon as well as articles praising the giving spirit of high school students who collected items for our troops in Iraq. From a selfish standpoint, favorite musings included Flag Day tributes to my dad and an article I wrote reminiscing about my 35 years as a student and teacher at Sahuaro High School.

The Citizen published numerous letters to the editor that allowed me to express my opinion on matters of personal interest and concern. Most especially, we will cherish the Tucson Citizen articles that chronicled our two boys’ athletic and academic endeavors, their graduation and wedding announcements, and other features that revealed programs in which my wife, Joan, and I have been involved.

Thankfully, the Citizen provided an outlet for me, and others, to engage in a hobby away from our normal professions. To all those who have filled the pages of our evening newspaper with provocative, heartwarming and challenging verbiage I offer a sincere word of thanks and best wishes for the future.

Dr. David Ashcraft

For many years, there was no other paper in town, so far as I was concerned, and Don Schellie’s column was one of my favorites. So, when a copy came that said it would reveal “The Thing,” which was then featured at a roadside attraction near Willcox, I could hardly wait, the next night, for that paper to come. I had always been curious about The Thing but my (then) husband would never stop, even though we had gone past it a number of times. Of course, many people gave me descriptions of what it was. One guy even said it was Hitler’s old Volkswagen.

So, I was eagerly waiting for that copy of the Citizen to arrive. But instead of a picture of The Thing, there was nothing but a full page of black ink! Boy! Was I disappointed! So disappointed that I wrote a letter to Don Schellie telling him about my page of black ink. I’m sure you can imagine my surprise when, one evening, I read a front-page teaser that said “Sorry Dodie”! The front of Section B included my letter plus a picture of the real Thing. I have still never seen The Thing in person, even though my husband, Curt, and I later lived in Willcox for a number of years. We went past that attraction hundreds of times – usually at night after it had closed. But, at least, I knew what it was.

I truly mourned Don’s passing, and really missed one of my favorite Citizen features.

It was great to have my 15 minutes of fame.

Dolores D. (Dodie Leifheit) Melton

It was February of 1947 when my parents, with me and my toddler brother, moved from Albuquerque to Tucson.

We moved into a brand-new home on East Lee Street, three blocks east of Country Club.

El Rancho Shopping Center didn’t exist yet; neither did Catalina High School.

“Karl” delivered the Citizen on horseback! The size of the Citizen allowed you to “fold and tuck” it into a square of about 8 inches to 10 inches – and that baby could fly! Failure to “porch” your deliveries was inexcusable!

Good memories? Oh yeah. Am I going to miss “my” Citizen? You better believe it!

Chuck Putney

The Tucson Citizen has been a guest in our home since we landed in Tucson. I remember the early Citizen, the one before the Gannett purchase. The date of that purchase, I do not recall; however, I didn’t notice the violent lurch to the “left” until the summer of 2004. However, this is a time for fond remembrances.

As we recount these miles gone by, it was very much appreciated the coverage our high schools received. Spotlight game of the week (football) profiled on Thursday, great coverage on Friday and then the write-up on Saturday. We so looked forward to that and read the coverage, even when we (CDO) lost. I still have some of the articles.

Why? you wonder!! Don’t we all clip and save when our children are mentioned and lauded? Oh yea!!!

Corky was a must read. Always positive and wrote in a way that we felt we knew him. One of his most memorable columns was about his daughter who had been diagnosed with cancer. Such a beautiful and heartfelt column. Thank you, Corky. We miss you.

Jeff Smith. Some of his columns were laugh-out-loud funny, especially those written during his first stint at the Citizen. The columns he wrote while recuperating from his horrible accident were not humorous, but were informative. Jeff, here’s hoping this finds you well and practicing your trade with gusto.

Such gifts Corky and Jeff are blessed with. Both of you have been sorely missed.

Mark Kimble, another gifted writer. The columns I choose to remember are the ones he wrote about his family and growing up in Tucson. However, the one he wrote about the loss of his brother was chilling and heartwrenching. Tragic.

I hope many of you were treated to the remembrances of Mr. Roy Drachman. The Citizen did itself proud when those columns were run. I eagerly awaited each installment. Mr. Drachman brought the Old Pueblo alive as only one who could have lived those days so very long ago when Tucson and Mr. Drachman, et al., were young.

Don Schellie (RIP). Such a talent and gone much too soon. His columns were terrific, as were he and his family.

I’ve bloviated enough, but you invited us to write; therefore, I have.

In summary, before the summer of 2004, the Citizen was a welcome guest in our home. Since that summer, so much of the time it felt like an intruder.

Thank you and all kinds of good luck to each and every one of you.

Helen Nicola

Never in my 66 years of life have I formed a true relationship with my newspaper, like I have the Tucson Citizen.

Only living here in Tucson for four years, however, I am still so saddened to hear that it will be discontinued very soon.

This paper appears to be much more conservative than your morning paper, and I will have to find something good about your alternative.

But I will never find a cartoon more enjoyed than BUCKLES. I always felt so happy to see this cartoon as he is exactly (with expressions and all!) my own dog. I would even cut the cartoon out for other dog lovers, as these series exemplify our family dogs being a real part of our families.

So very sad to see you go

Lyn & John Kilian

I moved to Tucson in 1975. I liked getting the afternoon paper so I read the Citizen. Losing the Citizen is like so many things that have made Tucson home for me.

One of them is kind of a combination of Tucson Citizen and the Tucson Toros. This has special meaning and memories for me as back in April of 1978 I took my 4-year-old daughter, Christina, to a Toros game. When I got to Hi Corbett field, a guy took Christina’s picture. The guy asked my name and I thought no more about it. The next day my mother-in-law called to tell us that Christina’s picture was on the front page of the Citizen. It sure made our day.

Thank you guys for being here all those years.

Allen P. Stark

1870

Oct. 15

John Wasson publishes the first issue of the Arizona Citizen, a weekly Republican publication meant to counter the Democratic voice of the Weekly Arizonan, owned by Pierton Donner. Tucson’s population according to the U.S. Census is 3,224. The state’s population is 9,658.

1871

April 29 Weekly Arizonan folds after bitter, politics-fed newspaper war in which both publishers traded brutal published insults. Wasson called Donner the “malicious booby of the Arizonan,” among other things. Tucson is now a one paper town.

1875/76

R.C. Brown and John L. Harris become co-owners at different times but by the end of 1876, Wasson buys back their interests and is again alone atop the masthead.

1877

March 29

L.C. Hughes, a Democrat, publishes the first issue of the Arizona Star, a three-times weekly paper

Oct. 23 Wasson sells the Arizona Citizen to John P. Clum and a consortium of investors from Florence. The paper moves to Florence.

1878

Sept. 6

Clum, who is now the sole owner of the Citizen, moves the paper back to Tucson.

1879

Hughes publishes the first issue of the Arizona Daily Star, twice. There was a Vol. 1, No. 1 copy published on Jan. 12. Then no issues published until June 26, which also has Vol. 1, No. 1 on its masthead. It continues daily publication after that.

March 1

Clum changes the Citizen to daily distribution.

1880

Jan. 3

Clum sells a half-interest in the paper to R.C. Brown, making him an owner again. Brown had been working for the paper in various capacities since 1875.

Feb. 6

Believing Tombstone to be the next great city of the West, Clum sells his remaining interest to Brown and moves southeast to establish the Tombstone Epitaph.

1881

June 10

The Citizen’s office and press burn while Brown is away in California on business. Most of the paper’s early archives are destroyed.

Aug. 7

Nearly ruined by fire, Brown sells a half-interest in the paper to J.A. Whitmore, former publisher of a Wisconsin paper.

1881-84

Turmoil. The paper changes hands numerous times. Whitmore sells his interest and Brown retires. Among the owners listed on the masthead during this time are S. A. Manlove, W.W. Hayward, George Clum (brother of John Clum), William C. Davis (one of the founders of Valley National Bank) and Herbert Tenney. The paper also moves several times during this time but always remains downtown.

August

Herbert Brown’s name appears on the masthead as general manager. By 1898, though no announce-ment was ever made in the paper, Brown (no relation to R.C. Brown) appears to have gained complete control of the paper.

1898

September

Brown is appointed superintendent of the Yuma territorial prison and leaves the paper. There was apparently another tumultuous period for some months as several names appear on the masthead as either editor or general manager but Brown remains owner. George H. Smalley is finally named editor.

1901

Brown sells the paper to mine owner Charles M. Shannon and copper and cattle magnate William C. Greene, both Democrats.

1901 (cont.)

Shannon and Greene name O’Brien Moore as editor and John Behan as man-ager, both Demo-crats. Behan had been the Cochise County sheriff and witness to the gunfight at the OK Corral in Tombstone. The politics of the paper change overnight.

May 23

Behan’s name disappears from the masthead after a dispute with Moore.

At one point, Behan barricades himself in the newspaper’s office and threatens to kill Moore if he tries to remove him without paying him $600, his supposed investment in the paper. Shannon comes to town and apparently pays him off.

Dec. 16

Moore and new manager Mulford Winsor change the paper’s name to the Tucson Citizen.

1906

Aug. 24

Moore dies without leaving a will. After another brief bit of turmoil, his widow, Agnes, takes over ownership of the paper.

1910

Feb. 26

Republicans James T. Williams Jr., Allan B. Jaynes (for whom Jaynes Station Road is named) and John B. Wright (for whom the TUSD elementary school is named) buy the paper. It returns to its Republican roots and editorial policy.

1910 (cont.)

Shannon and Greene, both immensely wealthy, invest heavily in the paper, mostly to advance the cause of their Democratic-machine politics. Jaynes takes advantage of those improvements and the paper has its greatest financial success since its founding. Jaynes also resumes the fierce newspaper war with the Star.

1912

Feb. 4

Fire again strikes the Citizen. It was a blow to the paper, which had been campaigning hard for statehood and hoped to be the first newspaper in the state to herald the joining of the Union, which was imminent. The Star, which was then owned by a copper mining company that later became Phelps Dodge, comes to the rescue and allows the Citizen to use its press until the Citizen can install a new one.

Feb. 14

The Citizen, being an afternoon paper, is the first to announce statehood in Tucson, printing its evening issue on the Star’s press.

1914

The Citizen moves to a building at the corner of Stone and Jackson, its eighth move in 30 years. It will remain there for 26 years.

1920

November

Jaynes dies. His widow, Kathryn takes over control of the paper and puts her son Oliver, in charge. Oliver, though, was poisoned by mustard gas in World War I and is frequently ill and absent from the paper. The paper’s hard-right editorial edge languishes.

1928

Frank H. Hitchcock (picture on previous page),an initial investor in the Citizen with Jaynes in 1910, acquires control of the paper. As the country descended into the Great Depression, Hitchcock championed the building of the Santa Catalina Highway by the Works Progress Administration. The road is still officially the Gen. Hitchcock Highway, though few call it that. It’s more commonly called the Catalina Highway.

1929

Jan. 1

Hitchcock tweaks the paper’s name, making it the Tucson Daily Citizen.

1929-35

The Depression and Hitchcock’s poor management nearly doom the paper. The Star rises as the dominant paper in the city. Democrats are in control in the city, in the state and in the country and the Star is a Democratic newspaper. Businessmen in the city are reluctant to advertise in the Republican Citizen out of fear of a backlash by city and state fathers.

1935

Hitchcock dies with no heirs and his sisters in Minnesota become owners. They have no interest in moving to Tucson or owning a paper there. The sisters hire William Johnson to sell the paper. He contacts an advertising firm based in Chicago owned by William A. Small (photo next page) that Hitchcock had hired as the Citizen’s advertising firm, and suggests a partnership. Johnson and Small buy the moribund paper

1936-40

With Johnson in charge, the Citizen becomes a moral crusader, attacking prostitution, gambling and liquor in town. Johnson convinces Small, who still lived in Chicago, to invest more money in the paper. Johnson also revives the political fight with the Star, even bringing back some of the vitriolic tone of the Wasson era by criticizing by name the Democratic editor of the Star, William R. Matthews.

1940

July 1

The increasingly expensive newspaper war between the Star and the Citizen leads to a truce and a partnership. The papers agree to enter a Joint Operating Agreement in which they will move into one building, at 208 N. Stone Ave., and form a partnership to provide all the nonnews functions of both papers: circulation, billing, printing and advertising sales. The newsrooms were to remain separate and under the control of each owner. The Republican-Democrat split also remained. Johnson and Matthews, forced to enter the building through the same door, barely acknowledge each other as they pass, and rarely speak for the next 10 years.

1950

Johnson retires. Small, who at some point moved here from Chicago, takes over as editor and publisher.

1964

Johnson dies and his ownership interest is purchased by Small, who is now the sole owner.

Claiming that he wanted to keep the Star from falling into the hands of Ohio-based newspaper chain that wanted to buy it, Small asserts a first right of refusal provision in the JOA contract and buys the Star for $10 million. His stated intent is to find a local buyer but the U.S. Department of Justice, claiming the purchase violates antitrust laws, immediately sues to force the Citizen to sell the Star. Small, even though he wants the same thing, in keeping with his Republican principles, resists what he believes is an unwarranted interference in his business by the federal government.

1966

Feb. 1

Small retires. His son, Bill Jr., takes over as editor and publisher.

Nov. 28

The International Union of Typesetters strike, which lasts into February when the strike is broken and the typesetters return to work. Only one issue is missed,

Feb. 4, when the press operators refused to cross the picket line.

1967

Small enlists the aid of Arizona Carl Hayden, who is in his fifth decade as a U.S. senator and a Democrat, to introduce legislation, the Newspaper Preservation Act, that exempts from the Antitrust Act newspapers operating under joint agreements. The bill gets a hearing but is never brought up for a vote before the 90th Congress ends in 1968.

1968

A federal judge orders the Citizen to sell the Star. The Citizen makes a direct appeal to the United States Supreme Court.

1969

The Supreme Court rules for the government that newspaper joint operating agreements violate the Antitrust Act, but before the court’s dissolution order can be carried out, Congress passes the reintroduced Newspaper Preservation Act. The bill was sponsored this time in the House by Mo Udall, another Democrat.

1970

July

President Richard M. Nixon signs the Newspaper Preservation Act. The original 1940 JOA is restored, but with the stipulation that the Citizen immediately sell the Star.

1971

April 8

The Citizen sells the Star to Pulitzer Publishing for $10 million and the two companies enter into a new JOA.

1973

Aug. 19

The Star and the Citizen move out of downtown to their current location at 4850 S. Park Ave. It is the first time the Citizen has been out of downtown since its return from Florence in 1878.

1976

Nov. 30

The Small family sells the Citizen to New York-based Gannett Co. Inc., ending 106 years of local ownership.

1977

June 1

Gannett drops “Daily” from the name and the paper becomes just the Tucson Citizen again.

Bill Small Jr. retires, ending the Small family’s 42-year involvement with the paper. Gannett names James Geehan as publisher. Tony Tslentis is the editor.

1981

Sept.

Gannett names Gerald Garcia publisher. He becomes the first Hispanic editor of a major metropolitan daily newspaper in the country.

1986

Sept.

Gannett names C. Donald Hatfield publisher after Garcia abruptly resigns. Hatfield also takes on the title of editor.

1998

June 4

The Tucson Citizen enters the Internet Age.

2000

Gannett names Michael Chihak publisher. Chihak started his career at the Citizen. He left for another Gannett paper in the 1980s.

2008

July 3

Chihak resigns and moves to San Francisco.

Senior Editor Jennifer Boice is named interim editor.

2009

Jan. 16

Bob Dickey, President of Gannett’s Community Publishing Division, breaks the news to Boice and Citizen staff that if no buyer for the paper is found by March 21, the paper will close. While not clear at the time of the announcement, Citizen staff soon learn that Gannett plans to continue its interest in the JOA with the Star but not produce a paper.

March 17

Gannett announces that “viable” buyers have come forward and delays closure of the Citizen. Instead the paper operates on a day-to-day basis.

May 15

Gannett announces that there will be no sale and instead it will cease publishing a printed paper and will operate a web site only. However, the web site will serve primarily as a community voice for bloggers and opinions, no news will be gathered and posted on the site by news staff.

May 16

The Citizen publishes its last print edition.

In 1957, when the Tucson Citizen set out to pick the top high school student in the city that year, the editors may have thought it was possible to choose just one teenager who was the very best.

What this project has proved through more than half a century is that local schools are filled with caring, intelligent, thoughtful young people who have been, and will continue to be, fabulous leaders and contributors to our world.

Many past winners have gone into law or medical professions. Some have taken jobs that help the underprivileged.

Sari Horwitz, the 1975 Student Achievement Award winner and an investigative reporter at The Washington Post, has won three Pulitzer Prizes, the most recent just last year. She was nominated for one this year, as well.

The nomination was for a 13-part series with another reporter on the murder of Federal Bureau of Prisons intern Chandra Levy. The series prompted Washington, D.C., police last fall to reopen the7-year-old case. In early March, they arrested a man the stories had focused on.

The top journalism prize last year went to the 11-member Washington Post team Horwitz was on that covered the Virginia Tech shootings, the deadliest campus massacre in U.S. history.

In 2002, she won a Pulitzer for a series uncovering the District of Columbia government’s role in the deaths of children placed in protective care. In 1999, her first Pulitzer, the Pulitzer board’s Gold Medal for public service, went to Horwitz and four colleagues at the Post for a five-part series on the high rate of police shootings in the District of Columbia.

Winning such big awards hasn’t kept her from remembering the one she received from the Citizen almost 34 years ago.

As a senior at Tucson High, it was the biggest award she had ever won.

In 1975 she was a teenager who had never been back East and was more than a little nervous to know that in a few months she would be on her way to Bryn Mawr College near Philadelphia.

“The big award from my hometown newspaper and the front-page story about me sent me off with confidence,” she said.

Horwitz, who graduated from Bryn Mawr and then from Oxford, said she is sad to see the end of the Tucson Citizen, and the end of the Student Achievement Award.

“In these hard economic times, especially in the newspaper business, it’s wonderful to see that the hometown newspaper continued to give out these awards. It’s a big honor for the recipients and their families,” she said.

The Citizen used to give winners watches. For a brief time, it changed to gift certificates, and, in the last few years, $500 scholarships.

It rarely was easy to choose who would get that scholarship.

By the time we got to the handful of finalists who would come in for interviews, we were overwhelmed by the breadth of knowledge and experiences one young person could cram into four years of high school. In 2000, 2003 and 2005, the Citizen chose two winners each.

In just the last few years, we have had winners who have started organizations, been to Africa to teach children English, and had to flee a hostile homeland for speaking out against political injustice.

We expect that among our winners, we may have a future chairman of the Tohono O’odham Nation, and maybe even a president of Iraq.

Super families

Throughout the past 51 years, a handful of families have been great producers of students nominated for the award. Two pairs of siblings have won the award. And four times one family has had a winner (or winners) and a finalist.

Duoc Ngoc and Nga Thuy Duoug, both high school teachers in Vietnam, and their children fled that war-torn country and came to Tucson just before the fall of Saigon in 1975.

Daughters Thuy Ngoc and Thu Mai won in 1988 and 1990, respectively, and son Quang was a finalist in 1989.

T. Herman and Teddy K. Moore raised two winners, Julia in 1980 and Eric in 1984. Gabriela and Frank Konarski’s son John was one of two winners in 2000 and daughter Patricia was a finalist in 1998.

When we were interviewing Jessica (Miller) Hartley in 2007, 10 years after she won the award, her sister, Rebecca Miller was one of our finalists. Their parents are Dane and Mary Miller.

Another Vietnamese family, headed by Ho Cam Thai and Canh Thi Phan, had a daughter, Hong Anh, who won in 1996 and a son, Hai Anh, who was finalist in 1993.

Early on, before we named finalists, the Rev. John and Hazel Coatsworth had three children nominated: David in 1966, Wendy in 1972 and Cindy in 1977. David won the award.

Super schools

Catalina Magnet High has had the most winners, 11, from the second contest in 1958, won by Robert Kirk Young, to the 2004 winner, Mariana Gramajo-Sherman.

Tucson High had the second-most winners at seven: The first winner from THS was Emma Gee; its most recent winner was Katherine “Kata” Pettit in 2003.

Desert Christian High School, whose students rank extremely high in volunteerism, had two winners in the past three years: Carina Groves and Ali Rawaf.

The contest is the longest project the newspaper has had in its more than 138 years of publication.

In 1964, Jon Hoffman said he wanted to become a dentist. He did, practicing here for 31 years before retiring in 2005.

The award “made me feel very good about myself. I had worked very hard to earn it.” And 45 years later, “I still have the watch the Citizen gave me. It’s had a lot of wear, but I can still read the inscription.”

Some who didn’t win have lived up to the promise we saw in them as nominees. Hundreds of them, we’re sure. We’ve heard from a few.

Lauren Johnston Lowe, a 1998 nominee, guards children’s rights as a lawyer in the Child and Family Protective Service division of the state Attorney General’s Office.

Jack Gillum, a 2002 nominee, is database editor for USA TODAY, the nation’s largest newspaper, with a daily readership of more than 3.5 million.

We thank all the nominees through the years who showed us what teens really are like and how they planned to make our world better. We’re sad we cannot bring you many more years of examples.

Citizen file photo

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Year: Recipient, School

1957: Emma Gee, Tucson High

1958: Robert Kirk Young, Catalina

1959: Russell Sidney Nielsen, Sunnyside

1960: Margaret Ann King, Salpointe Catholic

1961: John Moffatt, Catalina

1962: James R. Davis, Catalina

1963: Joel M. Vavich, Tucson High

1964: Jon A. Hoffman, Catalina

1965: Diana Lee Baum, Flowing Wells

1966: David R. Coatsworth, Pueblo

1967: Jennie Tom, Flowing Wells

1968: Douglas Barry Wilson, Rincon

1969: James Wood, Salpointe Catholic

1970: May Gin, Flowing Wells

1971: Carol Gilman, Catalina

1972: David Galligan, Catalina

1973: David W. Quinto, Canyon del Oro

1974: Douglas R. Linkhart, Palo Verde

1975: Sari Horwitz, Tucson High

1976: Mark Barker, Amphitheater

1977: Thomas R. Harrell, Tucson High

1978: Wayne E. Yehling, Tucson High

1979: Bari Weick, Tucson High

1980: Julia Elise Moore, Amphitheater

1981: Heidi Van Voris, Sabino

1982: Lynn Marcus, Catalina

1983: Daryl Clarke Johnson, Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind

1984: Eric J. Moore, Amphitheater

1985: Fong Sau Tom, Palo Verde

1986: Tinamarie Federico, Pueblo

1987: Flint Callaway, Sahuarita

1988: Thuy Ngoc Duong, Santa Rita

1989: Brad Alan Chvatal, Sahuaro

1990: Thu Mai Duong, Santa Rita

1991: Ross Crowley, Flowing Wells

1992: Shannon Clark, Catalina

1993: Wendelyn Julien, Amphitheater

1994: Francisco Manuel Hernandez, Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind

1995: Julie Martin, Desert View

1996: Hong Anh Thai, Catalina

1997: Jessica Miller, Flowing Wells

1998: Clair Donovan, Catalina

1999: Heather Ayn Davis, Immaculate Heart

2000: John Konarski, Desert View; Alia Gecobe Peera, Santa Rita

2001: Jennifer Musty, Salpointe Catholic

2002: Marcella Marie Acosta, Santa Rita

2003: Christopher Courneen, Pueblo High; Katherine “Kata” Pettit, Tucson High

2004: Mariana Gramajo-Sherman, Catalina

2005: Annalyn Rose Censky, Salpointe Catholic High; Kevin Joseph Lopez, Ha:Sañ Preparatory and Leadership School

2006: Carina Groves, Desert Christian High

2007: Amber Rose Horvath, St. Gregory College Preparatory School

2008: Ali Rawaf, Desert Christian High

I recall a very special good Citizen experience: The Young Citizen.

Local high school journalism enthusiasts were afforded the opportunity of a lifetime to work with grown-up, real reporters and photographers in a Citizen program called the Young Citizen. This program, under the direction of the late Citizen columnist Don Schellie involved an editor and a reporter from each area high school.

There were 12 participating high schools at the time.

Every Saturday morning we checked in at the old Star-Citizen building on North Stone Avenue.

We then gathered in a corner of the newsroom trying to maintain our high school cool, as we were in the midst of real newspaper reporters.

Weekly, we typed our highly relevant and newsworthy articles on IBM Selectric typewriters.

Each Saturday one lucky editor had the honor of laying out the entire page with all completed articles.

I still have the page I laid out from 1970 and all my printed articles.

As a group, we brainstormed on headlines and counted the point value of each letter to be sure they would fit (English, creative writing, layout and design, and math).

If we felt our articles warranted a photograph, we scheduled a staff photographer to shoot photos of what they probably considered some of the most benign, silly subjects.

They never complained (to us) and it was always thrilling to see not only our article but accompanying photos which, of course, lend credence to the value of our writing efforts.

Every Wednesday afternoon, we anxiously awaited the arrival of the Citizen to see our names and precious articles in print.

What a thrill this program was to me and other budding journalists.

As an assistant and editor representing Sunnyside High School from 1968 to 1970, I can’t tell you how terrific the gracious, gentle Schellie made us all feel as valued members of the newspaper staff. What an honor it was to work with him.

The Citizen treated us at the start of each school year with a breakfast and celebrated the end of the year with a nice dinner (one of which was at the historic Pioneer Hotel).

We all received our names in typeset and graduating seniors received silver and turquoise key chains personalized with their initials.

As if all that wasn’t enough, at the end of each month we received a paycheck representing $5 for every Saturday we worked.

Twenty bucks a month for writing four stories was pretty respectable compensation in 1968-70 (remember we baby-sat for 50 cents an hour and gas was around 25 cents a gallon).

As a three-year varsity pompom leader who cheered our Blue Devils on to victory (or not) every Friday night and who had to get up early every Saturday morning to head downtown to the Citizen newsroom (thanks, Dad), it was often a struggle.

But once you signed in with security, entered the smoked-filled newsroom, heard the sound of typewriter keys banging out the daily news, you couldn’t stem the excitement of starting your own story.

So, hats off to the Citizen for the innovative Young Citizen program to involve local journalism students in getting our stories out there, for the gracious and respectful manner in which they treated us, for the priceless opportunity they offered us. You have our love and respect – and they can’t take that away.

Kathy York Laird