I’ve seen a lot of changes in the newspaper industry during my 22-plus years as a reporter.

We were still typing stories on typewriters when I was attempting to learn the trade at IUPUI back in the early 1980s. In fact, my first job was at The Banner in Brownstown, and we typed our stories on typewriters for a few months before computers were introduced.

Back in those days, we only ran color photographs for special occasions, and we still used film to record images. The move to digital photography sure was great because you generally didn’t have to worry about whether or not you actually had something when you returned to the office after an assignment. I sure blew a couple before that time by taking photos without having film in the camera.

Another big change came about when we quit cutting and pasting stories on pages and began paginating those same pages on computers. For some of us that led to a move away from reporting and more time working on pages.

There sure where some struggles in the early days of pagination when computers systems were sometimes not up to the task of producing pages consistently.

Now most of the rough spots have been rounded off.

None of the changes I’ve seen may be as big as the one we just went through here at The Tribune.

On Friday, we printed the last newspaper in this building. From here on out, The Tribune will be published at The Republic’s printing center at Walesboro. The Republic already prints many other daily papers and it just makes sense that central printing locations can do a more efficient job.

The move also means a shift in deadlines and a change in the hours most of us in the newsroom work. It also means less people are working at our plant and made for a quite Monday morning as I began my day.

I believe most of the changes over the years have been good. They’ve generally made life a little easier although they’ve meant learning different ways of doing things. They’ve also meant a better end product in my book.

I don’t see any reason why the most recent change would be any different in the long run. Besides that I think the day may be coming when newspapers when only be available on-line. At one point, I didn’t think that would happen before I retired. I’ve now changed my thinking. It may be sooner rather than later.

The financial crisis has a lot of people reeling and left plenty of us confused about the future.

It’s also left us with something we haven’t seen in what seems like years - lower gasoline prices.

There’s not been a lot of talk about it, but the lower gasoline prices are allowing most of us to hold on to a little more money each day. It might not be much of a silver lining, but it’s better than nothing.

And the Trumpster (that’s Donald Trump) recently said the only thing that can keep oil prices from falling to as low as $20 a barrel is good economic news. We sure haven’t had much of that lately.

It sure is nice to see the price at the pump falling although many of us don’t beleive the lower prices will be around for very long.

By the way, one-time Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee added his two cents to the financial crisis the other day. Huckaby said he thinks the country is undergoing a daily terrorist attack on the stock market. His theory is that terrorists are joining the Wall Street fray late each day, buying and selling and making for a reall unpredictability about the future.

When you think about it, Huckabee’s theory seems to have some merit. Why did the terrorists strike the Twin Towers on 9-11? Many beleive it was to ruin the free market economy of not just the United States, but the world.

So maybe Huckaby has a point. Maybe he would be just as good as our present choices for the next president.

I’ve tried to keep abreast of everything that’s been going on in the financial world recently and it’s been hard to do.

One piece I recently read however came from Marie Cocoo with the Washington Post Writers Group. Cocco claimed that 401Ks were never a good idea. She contended they came about back in the 1970s and 1980s as a way for companies to rid themselves of providing their employees with retirement plans.

At first glance, Cocco made some pretty convincing arguments. She said in recent years many companies have frozen retirements for their employees, offering them 401K as a replacement. Freedom Communications took that step with its employees a couple of years ago.

Other companies eliminated their programs completed. Both methods allow the greedy corporate bosses to save money and enhance the bottom line.

I’m not trying to defend greedy corporate bosses here at all because they’re the ones that got us into this financial crisis in the first place.

Because of the crisis many of us have seen the balances in our 401Ks decline sharply. I can tell you mine has dipped dramatically although I refuse to even look at it or the balance in my wife’s 401K for that matter. In fact, I probably won’t take a peek at them again until sometime around 2014.

With that being said, I still have some issues with the idea that 401Ks only benefit employers because they improve the bottom line.

For starters without 401Ks, I would never have been able to save the kind of money I have over the years. Generally if I have a dime, I spend it. If I have $100, I spend it.

Twenty-two years ago I never thought I would have any money saved toward retirement and would likely find myself relying entirely upon Social Security.

Freedom still contributes some money to my 401K so they are helping me pay prepare for retirement in 17 years when I reach the age where I can receive Social Security.

Many small employers such as the one my wife works have never had and couldn’t afford to implement full-blown retirement plans for their employers. The implementation of 401K plan and other retirement plan options allows those employers to help their employees out to some degree.

Cocco’s article about the uselessness of 401Ks had some other good points including the fact that many 401Ks do not or never will contain enough money to help retirees live comfortably.

The median balance in 401Ks was only about $60,000 for people 54 to 64, Cocco said, and that works out to about $400 a month. That might pay for fuel costs.

The recent financial crisis hasn’t helped 401K balances especially those who are near to retire age.

But could the crisis been predicted? Probably not anymore than the 9-11 terrorists attacks.

I think it time the stock market will recover and people will begin to see their 401K balances rise. Will it be enough for people to live comfortably after they retire? Who knows.

Cocco seems to think a new system, perhaps called Social Security-plus, needs to be put into place because she contends government needs to help shoulder some of the burden of pensions. Companies can’t do it alone, she adds.

She contends many other countries all ready help with pensions. What other countries are doing has never been a convincing argument to me.

People also need to help out with their own retirement needs because they can decided what they need in their golden years.

I think the government needs to help less instead of more. I don’t mind providing a safety net for people who truly need a lift up. The problem is when government puts out any kind of safety net, a lot of people quickly come to around to the idea that they need that help as much as the next guy.

I’ve never been the biggest fan of drive-through windows at all those so-called fast food restaurants.

For one thing, I just don’t have the patience it takes to wait in line for very long and for another, they never seem to get the food to you very fast. If they do, they’ve probably messed it up.

The idea was get your food fast, but it seems to me the wait in those lines keep getting longer and longer each year.

And with the cost of gasoline now, it just seems stupid to sit in your car waiting for your food to arrive when you can go inside and be served just as fast.

The only time drive-through windows are convenient in my mind is when it’s cold outside and a person doesn’t want to leave the warmth of their car.

I think this country could save a lot of fuel by doing away with drive-through windows.

I know its probably not an original idea (I haven’t had one of those in years), but when it comes to talking about America’s dependence on foreign oil I don’t think anything should be left on the table or at the drive-through window at the fast-food restaurant.

And here’s another idea that could save us some fuel. Let’s eliminate Saturday mail delivery. Canada Post doesn’t deliver mail on Saturdays.

Most of what I receive in the mail any more is junk mail anyway so why do I need to receive it six times a week instead of five.

The good thing about the high cost of gasoline this year is that its making many people take a new look at how they do things.

Here’s something kind of neat I found during a visit to Methodist Hospital a week or two ago. In one of the restrooms, they have installed flushless toilets. The hospital claims each flushless toilets saves 44,000 gallons of water a year. If true, multiple that amount by the number of toilets in the hospital and the savings in water must be fantastic.

There’s plenty we can do to conserve resources, and nothing should be sacred.

There are very few traffic fatalities in Jackson County each year (the average is less than 8 a year over the past decade), and I suspect without Interstate 65 we would have even fewer here.

The recent death of Seymour teenager Amanda Stahl, however, really hit close to home for me.  For one thing, my son knew Amanda to some degree although they weren’t close friends or anything like that.

But Amanda was just 16, and my son recently turned 16 as well.

I also saw Amanda during the ceremony when she was crowned 4-H Royalty as well as at the 4-H swine show later on the day before her fatal wreck.

Like Amanda, my son Colin will be out driving on his own soon, and I know I’m going to be up some nights waiting for him to return home safely. I’ve already had several of those kinds of nights, laying in bed wondering if he’s going to make it home safely after a late night at the movies or is out just hanging around with his friends.

I know I can’t spend the rest of my life worrying about him while he’s out late.

I also believe God must have had some kind of plan for Amanda, and that’s why he took her. You can’t buck the big man upstairs.

That, however, doesn’t make it any easier on my wife or myself or any of the other parents with children the same age.

I already have two grown children who have been driving for years now so I know some day I will worry a little less about him, but not much because parents always worry about the well being of their children to some degree.

I also know that I can’t keep him safe by not allowing him to drive.

Pam Hess, whose son C.B. Hess died in a wreck during a spring break trip several years ago, laid it out pretty well for me when she told me that parents can’t keep their children from doing the things that go along with growing up no matter how worried they might be.

It wouldn’t be right.