Weiser Signal American welcomes new editor

I love to drive – can’t help it, I’m a wanderer.
 So, in 2018, when I found myself burned out and disenchanted with the direction the media was going, I decided to get my Class A CDL and hit the road.
 At the time, I worked for a national legal news wire, writing stories on high-profile lawsuits from across the country. Some of my stories included the NFL concussion issue, Green Peace illegally boarding oil ships in the north Pacific and plenty of antitrust complaints.
 There were five editors to deal with on any given day, not to mention attorneys, CEOs, law enforcement personnel and others who could potentially sue me over what I wrote.
 On the side, there was The Independent News, a now defunct monthly newspaper in Eagle, Idaho to which I contributed a great deal of copy. I was burning the candle at both ends, as they say.
 Trucking would be easy in comparison, I reasoned. Heck, all I had to do was sit there for 11 hours a day with only my thoughts and my music to keep me company. It would be a welcome change.
 It turns out there is much more to driving a 105,000 lb. rolling house than I ever imagined.
 Four months, two minor accidents and a $500 California-based speeding ticket later, I was through.
 It was on a long, hot road through the Nevada desert, on a run to Riverside, Calif., that I firmed up my decision. But it wasn’t the accidents, one of which was not my fault, I must add, that did it for me. It was the thought of my family and all I had missed out on in those four short months.
 My parents are the best a kid could ask for. Born and raised in Green Bay, Wis., they moved to Boise in 1971. They bore six kids, one with special needs for who I am a legal guardian. We have a very close relationship and we missed each other. My 12 nieces and nephews are big in my life, too.
 The choice to leave the trucking industry was clear.
 Ultimately, I went to work for one of my best friends at a roofing supply company, driving a truck and huffing 93-pound bundles of shingles across rooftops.
 This is going to be great, I thought. I need to get back in shape. After all, I’ve always been an athlete, having played full-contact football until I was 44-years-old and taking two consecutive state powerlifting championships. (I will concede, however, I was the only one in my weight class both years.)
 Unfortunately, I wasn’t any better running roofs than I was driving an 18-wheeler.
 I’ll always be grateful for the job. I made a lot of money, working 60 hours a week, but the work was grueling, dangerous and left little time for much else. Somehow I managed to stick it out for two years, part of which was spent working with a young guy who had been released from prison after a seven-year stint for attempted murder.
 During that time, I fell through a roof, ruined my knees and had back surgery. Two weeks later I fell off a truck, breaking several ribs and puncturing a lung.
 I spent four days in the hospital with a tube hanging out of my chest, watching Andy Griffith and Bonanza reruns.
 After that, I was home on workman’s comp, with four months to think about it all.
 That’s when the opportunity here in Weiser materialized.
 They say God works in mysterious ways; He sure does, but there was no mystery involved this time. It is clear to me now what His plan was all along.
 I thought I had it rough, that I was suffering.
 The lesson, in part, is that things can always get worse and that my true calling in life is to be with people, to write their stories and be part of a community, writing fair, factual copy that allows folks to make up their own minds.
 That’s my intention here in Weiser.
 I want to become part of this community and to contribute in the best way I know how. I hope to be here a long time and in the end, the only thing I hope for is that people will remember me for a job well done.
 I’m sure that’s way more information than anyone really cares to read. I wasn’t happy when they told me they wanted a “bio,” but when I started writing, this is what came out.
 Now for the details, and I promise to keep it short:
 I was raised in Boise, attended Bishop Kelly High School and graduated from Boise State University in 1994 with a Bachelor’s in English Literature. I spent the next two years playing football in Munich, Germany before returning home where I landed my first newspaper job in Eagle at The West-Ada Express, which has been gone now for over 20 years.
 As I’ve already stated, I’m a wanderer, spending the next couple of decades working at newspapers in various locations across the country.
 I’m still not married and don’t have any kids of my own, although I’ve changed my share of diapers.
 Well, that’s it – my whole life story in under a thousand words. If you’d like to meet me in person, feel free to come see me at the Weiser Signal American office any time. Our office hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., but if the light is on, come on in. You can also call me at (208) 230-1396 (Just don’t try selling me anything) or email me at scoop@signalamerican.com.
 Take Care and God Bless!
–Philip Janquart