Perhaps it is a coincidence that the announcement of the retirement Harold “Chip” Miller as president of Lancaster Newspapers, Inc. takes place one day before perhaps the most embarrassing event in the history of this great Lancaster enterprise.
What can be more humiliating to the Steinman Enterprises than for Scott Martin, the Chairman of the County Commissioners, to find it necessary to hold a press conference to explain to the community what painful steps will be necessary to ‘bail out’ the Convention Center Project that the Lancaster Newspaper had both co-sponsored and so ethically compromised itself with by both propagandizing in its favor and driving from office honorable former commissioners who raised legitimate questions about its feasibility.
The Steinman family and its foundations have long been the pride and mainstay of Lancaster, providing both leadership and financial support for scores of important and noble causes. What happened was anomalous to the rest of its illustrious history.
With the departure of Miller at the age of seventy, we hope that a new president will be chosen from outside our region, not only to inject fresh thinking and experienced leadership in these especially challenging times for all print media, but also to make a clean break from the sorry convention center incident.
