Whats going to happen with the column?
— Readers A. SAM isn’t going away. We read it every day, and it’s an important part of the Journal’s heritage. But we’re making some changes in where the column appears, its length and its focus. The changes reflect a tightening of our newsroom resources in tough economic times as well as a recognition of all the tools that readers these days have at their disposal to find out information. First, some history. SAM began life as the Sentinel Answer Man, a feature in The Sentinel, the Journal’s sister paper. When the paper closed in 1985, the column transferred to the Winston-Salem Journal. It became the Straight-Answer Man. Its author for many years was David Watson. When he died in 2000, Bumgardner took over the column, and she became the Straight-Answer Ma’am. Both Watson and Bumgardner added unique perspectives to their roles as SAM columnist. But behind the scenes, SAM has always had help with research, transcribing voicemail and writing answers. It’s bigger than any one individual
