Times-Picayune's Charlie Crumpley

I had heard through a mutual friend that News Orleans Times-Picayune business editor Charles Crumpley was OK in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, but had not heard from him directly until today. Charlie is also a SABEW board member, and one of the genuinely nice people in the business.

Here is his e-mail:

Hey! Good to hear from you. Believe it or not, my e-mail server just came up. Sorry I didn’t respond earlier, but I didn’t have my e-mail addresses and no way to get them.

We fared well in the hurricane. Little siding came off the house and we lost a few trees, but no water in the house and no roof damage. We are so lucky compared to those around us.

As for work, we’ve been working on laptops lined up on folding tables in an industrial park in Baton Rouge. But the office is back up and operating as of today, so we return to our home office tomorrow. I’ll be glad to get the 1 1/2 hour commute, each way, behind me.

You know, just putting out a newspaper was, in my mind, heroic. We published 16-page papers on presses borrowed from small-town Houma, La., and lately we’ve been putting out bigger papers (but still smaller than usual) on presses borrowed from Mobile, Ala.