Picnic send-off for GR Press faves

They aren't quite taking their bylines and going home, but some well-known Grand Rapids Press journalists spent their last day at the paper having a picnic outside their headquarters on Michigan Street NW.

Columnists Tom Rademacher, Charles Honey, Ruth Butler and photojournalist Hoyt Carrier are among those who accepted a buyout from the paper's owner, Advance Publications.

"We've watched each other's kids grow and be born," Rademacher told 24 Hour News 8. "We've watched each other develop as individuals and humans and you can't walk away from that without feeling a little part of your heart is gone."

Rademacher, Honey and Butler will continue to write columns each week, but will no longer be part of the day-to-day operations. Editor Mike Lloyd, who earlier announced his retirement, will also officially leave, replaced by Paul Keep who's coming to the Press from a similar position with the Muskegon Chronicle.

"Hopefully, one a week to start with, and we'll go from there," Rademacher said.

For Honey there's "a lot of sadness and a lot of joy." He and Butler will also contribute weekly columns on an ongoing basis.

They accepted the buyouts offered because Advance Publications, like most media, is looking to stabilize their bottom line.

"We're trying to do more with fewer people because news isn't slowing down at all," Honey said. "Obviously there's more things happening, and I think more than ever people need to understand what's going on around them, and they rely on the news to do it."

The way people get their news is changing, but Rademacher sees "bumping it up in an online way" can still keep the relationship a paper has with its readers.

Still, "It's hard to go," Butler said.

Carrier, who always spoke through his lens, said his experiences "still gives me chills when I think of it."