I hate most Mondays

I knew today was going to be a bad day when the telephone awakened me about 12:30 a.m. and the weekend editor informed me we had BIG problems at the office.

It seemed water had leaked from the flat roof over the multi-unit press and dripped into the main electrical box that services the press unit. Of course, that shorted out everything and press personnel were not immediately able to make the necessary repairs to get the press back in operation.

So, .pdfs of all the pages in the Monday edition were electronically transmitted to our sister newspaper in Wheeling, which printed the edition as soon as the Wheeling paper finished printing its Monday morning edition. Thanks goodness we have a nearby sister publication.

A large truck was sent to Wheeling to drive the newspapers the two-hour trip back to Parkersburg for waiting carriers to start their delivery runs.

The truck was expected at the newspaper by 8:30 a.m.

Readers who are used to having the newspaper at their door by 5 a.m. or so began calling the office, understandably asking where the edition was and how soon they could expect it after being told of our press issue. Of course, some readers were upset when they were met with a busy signal due to the large number of calls being received.

The only good part of the problem was it again reminds us at the newspaper how valuable our product is to readers and how much they want it ... and that's job security for us.

Those in the city zone were expected to get their newspapers Monday morning, but those in outlining areas probably would not get theirs until Monday afternoon as drivers made their way to those areas where The News and Sentinel is as much THEIR newspaper as those who live in Parkersburg.

Fortunately, the electrical problem, I'm told, was repaired Monday before noon and the press was back in operation, just in time for a 93,000 edition run of a product we publish for distribution in the Charleston-Huntington area.

Monday's often are a pain, but today was even more so.