Ch, ch, ch, ch, changin’ ...

TONY DODERO

Sitting here in my editor’s chair, I don’t get to do this much, but I

have some breaking news to report. I can sum it up in four words:

Here comes the judge.

That’s right, starting a week from today, Judge Robert Gardner’s

immensely popular column, The Verdict, will return to this newspaper.

No, the judge hasn’t returned to spinning new yarns. Instead, we

took the advice of our readers and made a deal with hizzoner to

republish The Verdict from years past.

As part of the deal, we will donate $10 a week per column to the

Surfrider Foundation, at the judge’s request.

It’s a small price to pay to bring back all the judge’s stories

for those who love his writings, and hopefully spawn a new generation

of Gardner readers.

The return of the judge is just part of several changes we’re

launching this week.

Here are a few more of the changes planned for the front page:

Monday, we’ll begin a new front-page feature called Coming Up,

which will give the readers a glimpse of some news events for the

week ahead.

Starting Tuesday, we will launch a new column by Costa Mesa

college professor and writer Humberto Caspa.

Caspa will pen a weekly column that will provides our readers with

stories about the ever-growing Latino community in Newport-Mesa and

gives us a taste of the culture and people in it.

On Wednesday, longtime Pilot columnist Steve Smith begins writing

a twice-weekly column called On the Town that will tackle some of the

hot city hall, school and community issues with his feisty brand of

commentary and criticism, with a few cheers sprinkled in for good

measure. His second column will run on Saturday.

Thursday’s front page doesn’t change, as we continue with Joe

Bell’s Bell Curve column.

On Friday, yours truly will begin a second column that I hope will

complement my Sunday From the Newsroom report.

While From the Newsroom deals with press and media issues and

journalist-type questions, this new column, called From the

Community, will be stories about our readers, our sources, civic

leaders, community events and other reader-inspired topics.

Saturday, like I said, will be Smith’s second-day column, and

Sunday will be the usual fare from our resident humorist, Peter

Buffa.

Moving off the front page, we have some Forum page changes that

the readers should be interested in hearing about as well.

Tuesday’s Forum page will be repackaged into a weekly roundup of

education commentary and tidbits called Campus Forum, complete with

columns and features dealing with everything from PTAs to SATs. We’ll

have columns from parents and students from Newport-Mesa schools to

Orange Coast to Vanguard to UCI. June Casagrande’s grammar column

moves off the front page and onto this page, with a new name -- A

Word, Please.

Throughout the week, the Forum pages will have new features

including columns from local gadflies, which will rotate, with one

week focusing on Costa Mesa, the next Newport Beach. Look for new

columns also from politicians and local leaders.

Also inside on Sundays will be The Verdict, which will be teamed

up with a new history column called, The Good Ol’ Days, complete with

historical photos. We’ll also restart the Living Memories obituary

feature on Sundays, which has been on hold for the last month.

Accompanying all these new, or newly recharged, columns and

features will be our usual stalwart band of writers, Jim de Boom,

B.W. Cook, Greer Wylder, S.J. Cahn, Tom Titus and Mike Whitehead, who

continue to contribute so much to our news pages.

We hope you enjoy the changes, and as usual, I’d love to hear your

thoughts.

TELL IT TO THE EDITOR

TONY DODERO is the editor. He welcomes your comments on news

coverage, photography or other newspaper-related issues. If you have

a message or a letter to the editor, call his direct line at (714)

966-4608 or the Readers Hotline (714) 966-4664, send it by e-mail to

[email protected] or [email protected], or send it by mail

to 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626.