Wonderful reading the memories of people
who remembered the Newark News. Mine are of the men who wrote it!
My dad, Vincent de Paul Slavin, was a police reporter for the News
in Newark during the 1930s and until his death in 1945. His stories
about Dutch Schultz, the Morro Castle, the Lindbergh baby kidnapping,
and general police news in and around Newark were always front page.
Although I was under 10 years old at the time, I remember getting
the paper delivered to our home in Union, then sprawling on the
living room floor to read, first of all, the funnies, then the movie
and radio listings, then the serial story that was usually there.
After that, my mother would point out my father's story and tell
us the importance of a byline.
As a volunteer during World War II, my dad also headed Draft Board
#2 in Union and offered numerous innovations for Selective Service,
then could write about those experiences in the News. He was responsible
for changing Selective Service regulations on drafting fathers,
unnecessary deferments, and conscientious objectors.
In the 1960s, '70s and until the paper's demise, my brother, Vince
Slavin, Jr., was also a leading reporter for the News, and one of
the first to go to Vietnam covering New Jerseyans serving there.
During the 1950s, both my sister and I worked summers in the "checking"
department of the advertising section on the first floor of the
News. It was a great experience.
|
