Does Mountlake Terrace or Lynnwood have a Captain Nitwit?
That’s the name the locals gave to an 84-year-old man in Cambria, Calif. who walked with a staff, had a beard that touched the ground, and built his house by hand using found objects. He was said to be one of the town’s pioneers.
When I first moved there, I thought the guy was a myth. Meeting him reminded me of the time I saw Colonel Sanders at the Empress Hotel in Victoria, B.C. I wondered: am I hallucinating?
Mr. Nitwit is deceased, but I’m sure his spirit lives on along California’s Central Coast.
Of course, Cambria, which caters to tourists is, in many ways, a much different town than Mountlake Terrace or Lynnwood.
But after writing for several newspapers around the United States, I’ve discovered that Captain Nitwits live all over the place.
In a sense, weekly, local newspapers have allowed me to see the United States, not from the window of a tourist bus, but through the lives of real people who live in real cities and towns.
Local papers have been my vehicle for seeing America up close.
I’ve also discovered that most places deal with the same issues: growth, resources (natural or man-made) and lifestyle. And they share many similar conflicts.
Mountlake Terrace residents are considering their future for the downtown.
In Renton, where I reported for the twice-monthly Renton Reporter, redevelopment was a real political football, with emotions flowing all around.
Sure, conflict in itself is often the angle for news stories. To me, however, the real stories are about people and how they celebrate or cope with, their lives every day. I hope my stories not only inform you, but also make you think, cry and smile.
It’s in that spirit that I look forward to meeting you and finding out more about what makes the two adjacent cities I’ll be covering tick.
Feel free to contact me via e-mail at lynnwood@heraldnet.com or by telephone, 425-673-6531.
And, by the way, if your legal name really is Captain Nitwit, please accept my apologies in advance.
Oscar Halpert is a writer and editor with The Enterprise Newspapers.
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