PANIOLO’S CORNER: A loss that will be felt in the community
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Last Friday we got word that our Publisher of 36 years will be moving on from the Maui News. Chris Minford has served the community of Maui since I was two years old, and he has been an invaluable resource to me personally throughout my short time here on the Valley Isle.
I would like to thank Mr. Minford for all he has done for the community and for the paper over the years. He has been a pillar at The Maui News and we will miss his insight and love for the community.
The newspaper industry continues to shift as we have talked about in previous Paniolo's Corners, and that shift continues to play out in several ways locally and nationally. We continue to change since shifting to a weekly publication and in the coming weeks, and months, we will continue to evolve as we go through another shift. This time we are bidding farewell to our "fearless leader" and it is a loss that will sting, but the show must go on.
Jenni DeFouw will be filling some of the void left behind by Chris Minford's departure. Jenni has worked at the Steamboat Pilot as the Advertising Director for 11 years. DeFouw will be taking over the Advertising Director position at the Maui News and will also serve as the General Manager.
Ironically enough, DeFouw has worked at the newspaper that runs my hometown newspaper, "The Craig Daily Press" and has successfully served in her position as the Advertising Director of the Steamboat Pilot. As you know, it is hard for mainlanders to move to the island and get acclimated to the culture and way of island life, so I would like to congratulate Jenni on her new role and I will give her what I have been taught by those who have come before, but will no longer be on the team.
Again, more than ever we will rely on you the readers, and the community to see us through another fork in the road.
I want to wish Chris Minford the best in his new chapter in life and I hope you will too when you see him out and about in the community. I also ask that you introduce yourself to Jenni and give her warm aloha as she enters this new chapter in her life, after ending one that she spent 11 years in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
It's not easy to say goodbye to something you have devoted 36 years of your life to, but the memories of what was accomplished will stay in the history that is The Maui News.
Mahalo nui loa Chris and a hui ho.