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A letter to Tri-City News readers: Thanks for 33 years

Longtime editor Richard Dal Monte thanks readers, the community of Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody, and colleagues as his time at The Tri-City News comes to an end
Richard Dal Monte
Richard Dal Monte worked at The Tri-City News for 33 years: as a sports reporter and sports editor,
Richard Dal Monte worked at The Tri-City News for 33 years: as a sports reporter and sports editor, Sunday Magazine editor, general assignment reporter and, finally, as editor for the last 19 years.Submitted photo

On Friday, March 27, 1987, I worked my first full-time shift at The Tri-City News as a sports reporter.

On Friday, April 3, 2020, I worked my last, rounding out just over 19 years as the paper’s editor.

What started this spring as a temporary layoff due to the effects of COVID-19 has now become permanent.

So this is a goodbye.

More than that, this is a thank-you.

Thanks first and forever to The Tri-City News’ loyal and engaged readers. Over more than three decades with the paper, I have written and edited millions of words, and none of them would be worth anything without an audience of people who care about their community and its stories.

Thanks to the subjects of our stories, the people who shared their knowledge, their passions, their creativity and their excellence, and who opened up their lives so our readers could learn about their neighbours.

Thanks to the businesses that support local news for recognizing the value of a community newspaper as both a vehicle for advertising and a public service.

Thanks to the thousands of Tri-City kids whose first job was going door to door, delivering our newspaper. 

Thanks to the drivers and printers, the sales reps and ad controllers, the columnists, cartoonists and contributors, and the many, many others who make this machine work.

Thanks to Mark Hamilton, The Tri-City News’ founding editor, who hired me as a 22-year-old reporter fresh out of journalism school. (Fun fact: I met Mark when I crashed a reception for the paper’s advertisers in an effort to make newspaper contacts.)

And finally, my deepest and most profound thanks to my newsroom colleagues over the last three decades, and especially to the current crew: Mario Bartel, Janis Cleugh, Stefan Labbé, Gary McKenna and Diane Strandberg. I am a man of many words but I can’t in this moment summon the right ones to do justice to the outstanding and award-winning work they do serving the people of Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, Anmore and Belcarra.

I wish them and the rest of my former Glacier Media colleagues great success. More importantly, I wish them — and The Tri-City News’ readers — many more great stories.