I’m hesitant to eulogize Tyler Murphy yet again as it’s been done in each successive column this week, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t mark the auspicious occasion in some way.

Actually, we’ll be marking it in our own way down at Fred’s in a few hours, but I digress ...

Having two-plus decades under my journalistic belt here at The Evening Sun, I’ve seen a lot of reporters come and go. I’m not sure what’s changed in the last few years, but that revolving door has slowed quite a bit – there was a time when it was a rarity for me to keep an editorial staff intact for more than a year at a time.

But today, Tyler breaks up our happy little family, after five-ish years at our newspaper, to follow a new path in Albany. The newsroom bonds formed will be torn asunder, only to form anew once Reporter X (I suppose I should get around to hiring someone, eh?) succeeds him. We’re a small, close-knit group here, forged into a team by a single common goal: Friday lunch. Err, the Pursuit of Truth! Yeah, that’s what I meant. It will take a while before we figure out where Reporter X fits in, where his or her talents are best put to use, how he or she will mesh with our eccentric little coterie. Just ask poor Brian, who we still refer to as “New Guy” after almost two years.