Memories of Michael T. Baldwin
By Kathryn Ross
I sit here with mixed feelings after reading about the death of Michael T. Baldwin.
At first thought, I am sad that he has passed. He was one of the good ones and he will be missed. Yet, I’m glad that he is at peace now, after such a difficult and debilitating last few years. I fully believe that medical science and the insurance industry did not do enough to save this wonderful man from this horrible fate.
A Facebook friend, I read of his trials and tribulations, and I was saddened and concerned about his continued decline and the failure of medical science to come up with a cure or treatment. I can’t count the number of times he reported no good news from the multitude of tests he had taken, or that he had to go to yet another hospital, or that he was back home and trying to cope. Mike was stalwart and it seemed to me that Mike was trying his best to put on a good face. All I can say to that is, I hope he’s enjoying that giant radio station in the sky reporting on what’s happening and reuniting with his old friends.
I wasn’t on the job when WJQZ went on the air. It was just a couple of years before I joined the Wellsville news world. It was already filled with outstanding journalists – Sue Goetschius, Joan Dickinson, Stan Swan, Bob Weigand, Rod Bieler and Mike. I was the new kid on the block.
The first story I ever went on with Mike was a fatal plane crash. It was just shy of the runway at Wellsville Airport on what was the proverbial dark and rainy night in the fall. I stood there on the tarmac with what I guess you would have to call the press pool. Huddling with the others we waited for the facts, the cause of the accident and any other information we could get.
I took my cue from Mike. He was a professional who knew all the right questions to ask because after all, he was an EMT.
My story rose out of Mike’s questions. If I asked anything at all, I don’t remember. He and Sue had it covered. I was riding on their coattails.
A couple of years later, Mike was the first to ring the alarm when the New York State Low-Level Nuclear Waste Siting Commission included sites in Allegany County in their proposed plan for a nuclear waste dump.
Mike sounded the alarm on his radio show close to Christmas, and the rest of us picked it up and ran with it. We watched as the Concerned Citizens of Allegany County grew from a small group in Angelica to a county-wide juggernaut that included farmers, college professors, students, politicians and individuals from all walks of life. Through those dreadful months when town and village governments responded, we news people attended their meetings to keep the public informed.
When the onsite inspections started, things got interesting. Each time the call went out I would climb into my car and speed to the rendezvous point and there would be Mike.
It was impossible to count how many protesters there were, so Mike and I would compromise, estimate a probable number and we would both report. We were always generous with our count.
In a perverse way, those were good days. I got to know Mike as a respected colleague and a friend who always made sure I was never in danger whether it was a search for a murderer or a missing person.
I remember one time when a tanker carrying airplane fuel crashed on the road off Niles Hill leading to the airport. The road takes a deep dip. The tanker was off the road and on its side at the bottom of the gully.
Camera in hand, I blithely started walking down the road towards the overturned truck to get a good photo for the newspaper when I heard Mike’s melodious voice warning, “Hey Kathryn, that truck could blow up at any moment.” I turned around.
I will miss Mike, his irreverent humor and his melodic voice, his keen sense of news. His helping hand and his friendship.
I hope you are resting in peace, my dear friend. I love you and I’ll miss you.
Kathryn Ross is a longtime Wellsville resident, journalist, columnist, history buff, and community activist. You can reach her anytime, kathr_2002@yahoo.com
