[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 41 (Tuesday, April 4, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Page S2797]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO JAMES C. BARBIERI

 Mr. LUGAR. Mr. President, today I mark the passing of a great 
Hoosier newspaperman and civic leader, James C. Barbieri.
  My condolences go out to his wife Barbara, his son Chuck, his 
daughter Cindi, and his four grandchildren and one great grandchild. 
They shared this remarkable man with the wonderful community of 
Bluffton, IN, which also mourns his passing.
  Beginning in 1950, Jim Barbieri worked almost every job conceivable 
at the Bluffton, IN, News-Banner. He was a reporter, advertising 
salesman, and circulation director. He became general manager of the 
venerable Wells County publication in 1975 and then coowner, president, 
and publisher in 1986.
  It was not unusual that on any given day he might write every page-1 
story, the editorial, and if someone called in sick, he would pick up a 
delivery route, too. He was always available because he only missed 1 
day of work over a 50-year stretch.
  Born and raised in Park Ridge, IL, he attended DePauw University in 
Indiana where he was editor of the student newspaper. After serving his 
country in the Army during the Korean War, Jim worked briefly at The 
Chicago American before coming to Bluffton.
  In 2005, the Hoosier State Press Association awarded Jim the Charlie 
Biggs Commitment to Community Award.
  Jim Barbieri had that venerable smalltown newspaperman ready opinion 
on virtually everything that passes us by in life. Whether it was 
roads, parks, or the time Indiana should set its clocks in the summer, 
Jim used his unique forum to editorialize. I knew he was always looking 
over my shoulder providing ready comment on anything I did in the 
State, national, or international arena.
  On visits to Bluffton, Jim Barbieri would cover the community event I 
was attending and then, in an extensive interview, explore my thoughts 
on the issues of the day. He would then exhaustively report all of it 
in the newspaper astutely and accurately.
  He did not cease to impress all with his indefatigability. At the 
celebration of his 50 years with The News-Banner, Jim wrote this poem:

     So that the way I work may be out of date,
     But don't try to bend me and make me go straight.
     Let me go on in my very old fashion
     Covering the news with an old time passion.
     The style in which my career has been blest,
     To you may be faulty, but I (gave) it my best.
     When God takes me home at the end of my years,
     He'll not straighten me out and pop all my gears.
     He'll say ``you, reporter, for the sins that you bring,
     We'll take you like you are with a bent angelic wing.''
     And we all know that Heaven could not run well
     Without a journalist to give them all hell.
     So in the celestial press room we bid you to trod,
     But don't ever misquote Peter or misspell God.

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