I’m the OLD new guy By MIKE BOLLINGER
to be able to help them with Johnston Now. Hi! I’m the new guy. Or, During my time in the maybe more accurately, the newspaper business, I have old new guy. worked as an editor, news editor, I’ll be helping with the reporter and sports writer. editorial side of Johnston Most recently, I spent 12 years MIKE BOLLINGER Now on a part-time basis at a small weekly newspaper mike@johnstonnow.com after recently retiring after working in Bath County in the more than 30 years in the mountains of Virginia. newspaper business. I have relocated to Some winters, there is a lot of snow Johnston County and will be living in the in Bath County. I am not a fan of snow, Four Oaks area. particularly of shoveling it. While I Randy and Shanna Capps, the owners understand it generally doesn’t snow a lot in of Johnston Now, are my best friends. We this area, I have a suspicion that the snow all met when Randy and I were working may decide to follow me down here. I hope at a newspaper in Henderson. We hit I’m wrong, but given that Murphy’s Law it off immediately and have now been tends to follow me around sometimes, I’d be friends for more than 15 years. on the lookout just to be on the safe side. We had talked about me working in some When I’m not working, I enjoy watching capacity for them, and when I decided I and playing tennis. I’m just getting back was going to retire in August, we talked into playing after about two years off the and decided we should make it happen. I’m court. I have never stopped watching. I very lucky to have them as friends and glad watch a lot. Maybe too much. It has been
suggested that I need an intervention. Tennis Channel is my friend. If there’s no tennis to watch, I also like to watch most other sports, particularly baseball and soccer. As a native of Virginia, I’m a Virginia Cavaliers fan, although I’m not sure at this point how much fun they’re going to be to watch during football season. So far, my new adventure is going well. I’ve lived in North Carolina before, but not in this area. I’ve been able to get around a little so far and people have been very nice and welcoming. I’ll be contributing stories and future columns to Johnston Now. I’ll be looking for stories, so if you have any good ideas email me at mike@johnstonnow.com or call the office at 919-980-5522. You can also contact me if you want to play tennis, since I try and play a little in addition to watching. Thanks in advance for reading and continuing to support the magazine.
PROUDLY SUPPORTING OUR COMMUNITY At United, our mission is to provide exceptional banking services while caring deeply for our communities.
Member FDIC. © 2021 United Community Bank | ucbi.com
6 | [ JOHNSTON NOW ]
