By JIMMY LAWTON

Fans of Section 10 sports have started a petition calling on the Johnson News Corp. to keep its Ogdensburg and Massena area sports and editorial staff.

Chris Wainwright created the petition in the wake of a recent news story from the Johnson News that they would be “restructuring.”

“Those changes have resulted in the loss of nine net positions from all departments in the company’s eight daily and weekly papers in the North Country,” said a news article published Nov. 22 on the Massena Courier Observer web site. “The adoption of the most modern technology has allowed the company to restructure its workflow with a central Design Suite that will centralize page makeup in Watertown for all company newspapers, from Batavia to Malone to Hudson. Several employees have been offered transfers, and other redundant positions were eliminated.”

The petition started yesterday, but already has nearly 500 signatures.

Among those reportedly losing their jobs locally are Courier-Observer Editor Ryne Martin and sports reporters Steven Heaton and Jake Spriggs.

Among those who have signed the petition is retired Ogdensburg Free Academy basketball coach and Section 10 Basketball Chair Bill Merna.

“I look forward to reading the story of the games not just a score,” Merna wrote on the petition.

Heuvelton basketball coach Rob Powers also signed the petition.

“It will be a sad period if the communities of northern New York will be unable to stay abreast of local sports. The hard workers that are under your employ should be treated with more dignity and respect, as they put forth great effort and time,” he wrote.

The petition can be found at http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/save-section-10-sports-reporting.html.

A forward to the petition website follows:

“This petition is in response to the recent news of Johnson News Corp. to fire/let go of their sports reporters and do away with the sports section of the paper to St. Lawrence County. All of this just to save a buck.

“As an alum of a section 10 school, I think we should all stand up and show the support and dedication to keep the sports page just as those who have reported it over the many years. The ones who report the games and give a little bit of an in depth game recap to those who may not be able to attend the games goes a long ways.

“Mr. Johnson has the wrong mindset when it comes to this. Nintey-nine percent of the reporting for games in St. Lawrence County comes from those reporters such as Dave Shea and Steve Heaton. Both of these people have put their heart and soul into something they love to do. To take that away is a travesty.

“From the preseason reports, to the first games of the season to playoffs, for those teams who were lucky enough to make it to the state tourney, all the way to the state semifinals to a state title.

“Both Hammond and Heuvelton state titles were covered by either Mr. Shea or Mr. Heaton or both.

“Now by cutting the people who do the reporting out, we now rely on coaches to do the reporting when calling a game in.

“That's a severe injustice to the athletes as you don't get the same game recap as you would reading a well written report.

“Also to the hard work that Ryne Martin, Jake Spriggs and Mike Hann. All of these people's hard work ad dedication should be allowed to continue. I urge people to sign this petition and help save this. As my grandfather once said, ‘It doesn't hurt to try.’”