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Another NASCAR writer off the tour

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by SportsGuyBCK, Jan 7, 2013.

  1. SportsGuyBCK

    SportsGuyBCK Active Member

    And this is a biggie ... Monte Dutton, the NASCAR writer for the Gaston Gazette and the other papers in the Halifax Media Group (formerly Freedom) was given his walking papers Friday ...

    What gets me steamed about this happening to Monte, a long-time friend, is that he was told Friday ... his last day on the job ...

    Another thing was that the NASCAR beat was actually a moneymaker (unless someone had been leading Monte along) because of the syndicated page they have done for the last 10-15 years (maybe longer) ... unless some beancounter decided they could make more with it my using freelancers instead of a staff writer (and there are a few people covering NASCAR who would go to Monte's superiors to make such an offer) ...
     
  2. Azrael

    Azrael Well-Known Member

    Re: Another NASCAR writer bites the dust


    Sorry to hear it. Always liked Monte.

    Out of respect to the late David Poole, you might consider adjusting the thread title, however.
     
  3. BenPoquette

    BenPoquette Active Member

    Re: Another NASCAR writer bites the dust

    I was thinking the same thing.

    With Thomas Pope moving into the SE chair last year and now this, there aren't going to be any NASCAR writers with any history left.
     
  4. SportsGuyBCK

    SportsGuyBCK Active Member

    Fixed ... I thought the same thing right after I posted it, but the web service where I am is slow as heck today ...
     
  5. imjustagirl

    imjustagirl Active Member

    This is sad news. I've always been partial to Monte, moreso for the post-race grill sessions and guitar hoedowns, but partial nonetheless. He would always play "the naked song" as I called it, as a request for me.

    First time I went to Pocono, Monte walked with me out to get some sort of fried contraption for lunch because god knows the food at Pocono was horrible. I had a good time talking to him. His questions were long, and to call them circuitous would be an insult to circuitous, but he'd seen more than most in that media center.

    I hope this opens him up more to do more music and more books, where his passion was anyway. But it still sucks.
     
  6. SportsGuyBCK

    SportsGuyBCK Active Member

    Agreed (on both the sad news and that Pocono's food isn't fit for canine consumption) ...

    What steams me on this is the way Monte was treated ... telling him on what was his last day??? Sorry, but that's low even for the newspaper industry ... hell, I was treated better when I was laid off by one of those chains that is especially despised on this board (rhymes with "Maxton") ... I have a hard time believing his immediate bosses signed off on doing it that way (whether they were given a choice or not), but my opinion of them and how they run things just nosedived ...
     
  7. doctorquant

    doctorquant Well-Known Member

    Hate to hear this about Monte. I knew him way the hell back when he was SID at Furman (and then later on when he was the official scorer for the Greenville (AA) Braves.
     
  8. BurnsWhenIPee

    BurnsWhenIPee Well-Known Member

    Isn't that generally how layoffs are done, though, where the person is called in and given the news, get an exit interview, escorted out of the building, etc., and that's their final day?

    I'm not saying that it doesn't suck by any stretch, but from my time in 2 different lines of work, it's always been the case where someone is laid off and the day they find out is their last day working there.
     
  9. SportsGuyBCK

    SportsGuyBCK Active Member

    Everybody seems to handle this sort of thing differently ... for example, what I went through was a total surprise considering who I was working for at the time ... while Monte was working for a chain that had some respect for how it treated its people ...
     
  10. BurnsWhenIPee

    BurnsWhenIPee Well-Known Member

    Yeah, it definitely sucks. I was just saying I've never heard of anyone being laid off and then allowed to continue working there for 2 weeks, or even through the end of the day.

    I've got a buddy who was laid off from an online news company a few years back, and he had no idea it was coming. He was called into his boss' office, and an HR rep was there waiting for them. While they were delivering the news, they had IT people in his office, wiping out his Blackberry and laptop, shutting down his e-mail accounts and boxing up all the personal items from his office. When he got done with the meeting with his boss and the HR rep, they gave him the box of his personal effects and escorted him out of the building.

    And that was a company that has a pretty good reputation for how it treats its employees ...
     
  11. ScottJBryan

    ScottJBryan Member

    Monte was always great with young people covering NASCAR. I wasn't a full-time NASCAR writer, but I worked in a NASCAR town with a track when I was 21 years old. Twice a year, I'd do the full week covering the race, and guys like Monte, David Poole, Jim McLaurin were always great to a young guy with plenty of questions. Like IJAG, I hope he continues to write books and tell the stories of NASCAR from that format.
     
  12. HejiraHenry

    HejiraHenry Well-Known Member

    Well, I'm very curious to see what we'll get from RBMA (Reed Brennan) for a NASCAR page this week, since that was all based on Monte's content. I just put in a call to their customer service.
     
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