STOWE – Former Hardwick Gazette Reporter Tommy Gardner has been named editor of Vermont Community Newspaper Group’s (CNG) five community weeklies.
Gardner serves now as the lead reporter and mentor to other CNG journalists in his role as news editor for those weeklies. He’ll take on the new role in January,
Reporting for the Gazette was one of Gardner’s first part-time jobs in 2002 and 2003, where he reported mostly on Wolcott, but occasionally took on stories about Hardwick He then took a break to travel the country reporting to support his ski habit in Telluride. Co. and bartending in North Carolina, before returning to Vermont in 2008 where he had a chance encounter with his former journalism professor Tyrone Shaw on the then Johnson State College campus. Shaw had visited with Hardwick Gazette Editor and Publisher Ross Connelly not long before running into Gardner and knew Connelly was looking for a reporter, but also that he often mentioned Gardner and the fine work he had done for the Gazette. Shaw said to Gardner, “Come up to my Office.”
Garder was the first editor of the school’s “Basement Medicine” newspaper when Shaw began overseeing it in 1999. Gardner had a good instinct for journalism and the two stayed in touch over the years, Shaw said.
Shaw’s recollection of that day is seeing Gardner sitting in the office’s comfy chair while Shaw asked if he wanted a job. Gardner’s quick yes prompted Shaw to call Connelly and hand the phone to Gardner. What followed is now Hardwick Gazette history. Gardner accepted his first position as a full-time reporter with the Gazette in 2008, moving to the CNG in 2012.
Connelly remembers Gardner as a reporter who “really stood out,” saying he had been fortunate to work with Gardner, then, in his understated way, adding “he was a good writer.”
Gardner recalls not feeling very welcome in town during an encounter with the Hardwick road crew on his first day. While he was taking photographs of their work he could see they weren’t very happy having an unknown person so interested in what they were doing.
Gardner says he “cut my teeth” at the Gazette, taking on every aspect of writing, except sports, where the Gazette already had the beloved Dave Morse.
Gardner had many memorable moments at the Gazette by his own recollection and according to those who worked with him. He visited the Hardwick Police Department and Town offices almost daily, once going on a “ride along” with an officer on patrol, He attended training and got himself tazed along with officers so he could report on the experience. One day he intentionally got attacked by a police dog while wearing padding clothing. Reports about all of those events appeared in the Gazette.
Gardner recalls reporting on the new Center for an Agricultural Economy early on as it developed plans for its Food Venture Center and carried them out. He reported on the Hardwick Electric Embezzlement of over $1 million, then the largest in Vermont history,
Four years into the job Gardner remembers attending an event where he sang karaoke with that same road crew who’d looked at him sideways on his first day with the paper.
Gardner grew up in Morristown and Hyde Park, He’s in his 12th is starting his 12th year at CNG,
“We are incredibly fortunate to have someone as talented and experienced as Tommy to lead us forward. Known for his elegant and accessible writing, his work has also been regularly recognized by his peers in the regional newspaper awards contest,” wrote Bob Miller and Greg Popa in announcing Gardner’s new position,
Gardner says he’s been fortunate to have worked with and been mentored by some of the state’s best journalists in Connelly, Shaw and Morse, plus the Burlington Free Press’ Mike Donoghue and both Tom Kearney and Greg Popa with the CNG.
The CNG announcement of the change said, “We are incredibly fortunate to have someone as talented and experienced as Tommy to lead us forward. Known for his elegant and accessible writing, his work has also been regularly recognized by his peers in the regional newspaper awards contest.
“In 2016, Gardner won the Mavis Doyle Award from the Vermont Press Association, which historically had been presented annually to one reporter in the state. The award is named for the former dean of the Statehouse press corps, and selection is based on “the reporter’s aggressiveness, determination, compassion, commitment to journalism, dedication to social justice and unwavering belief that journalism should be the watchdog of the government and the voice of the people.”
Popa is retiring from his position at the end of the year, after 40 years, but will stay on to continue his role editing and publishing Stowe magazine.
Details of the changes note “The role of publisher is going to be replaced by a management committee that will oversee all the operations of the newspaper group. Serving on the committee will be Bob Miller, who has been the majority owner of the newspapers for 12 years, sales manager Bryan Meszkat, production manager Katerina Werth, who will become general manager, and Tommy Gardner, editor.
“This structure ensures that the company will be overseen by local employees and managers of the business and not by some out-of-state owner.
Paul Fixx is editor of The Hardwick Gazette and lives in Hardwick.
