Capital Gazette Staff, Memories Inescapable, Tries To Keep Moving

ANNAPOLIS, MD – It's the week between Christmas and New Year's and, as is the case is newsrooms across the United States, the newsroom of the Capital Gazette is being staffed by a smaller than usual crew as some have taken vacation.

There may be no newsroom more deserving of a vacation.

At the same time, Editor Rick Hutzell is putting out the paper as they have every day since June 28 when a gunman murdered five members of the staff – Gerald Fischman, Robert Hiaasen, John McNamara, Rebecca Smith, and Wendi Winters..

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"I can tell you this: we are putting out a damn paper," reporter Chase Cook tweeted that day. And they did. And continue to do so.

People at the paper have taken to social media and given interviews about how they've been affected, the struggle to keep moving forward.

Photojournalist Joshua McKerrow recently tweeted out about his annual coverage of the holiday decorations at the Governor's Mansion, a story he usually covered with Wendi Winters.

Wendi was one of the five who were murdered.

McKerrow wrote that he was okay most of the time, only losing it as the assignment came to an end. He'd been interviewing the butler as he did every year and, afterward, she pulled him aside and "whispered, 'I really miss Wendi. Next year I'm going to name a cookie for her.'

"And that was it. The tears started, and I'm standing in the Maryland Governors home weeping to myself about my dead friend."

Wendi was well known for making cookies for the newsroom. Her specialty was Oreos dipped in chocolate and covered with crushed candy cane dust.

Phil Davis, who covers crime for the paper, told the Baltimore Sun that he originally came back too soon after the the murders and it's been a little easier the second time.

"The dynamics have certainly changed," he told the Sun."But the people here have really pulled together."

In the wake of the murders, the Capital Gazette Families Fund was set up to help the families of those who were killed and a second fund, the Capital Gazette Memorial Scholarship Fund, was established to provide an award every year for "select students pursuing a degree in Journalism at the University of Maryland, College Park.

You can find information about both funds here.

PHOTO: Annapolis Strong banner placed outside the Capital Gazette office on Bestgate Road, by Patch Editor Elizabeth Janney.