Article by Dan Shell
Western Editor
They say either one is good but both are better, and I’ve been both lucky and blessed to have a boss like DK Knight, who took a chance on a young journalism gradate in 1988 (saving me from the carnage to come in the newspaper industry) and has given me plenty of interesting work with Hatton-Brown Publishers during the past 31 years since, taking me to places and doing things I could never have imagined. Of course it was DK who, as we were driving down the road near Brooklet, Ga. on my first trip out for the magazine, told me about 15 seconds before we drove up that he could “smell” the Sheppard Bros. sawmill we were about to visit—making me feel hopelessly inferior as I sat in the passenger seat trying to memorize my sawmill questions and talking points.
Of course, any discomfort on that trip was only in my mind as I came to discover in the coming days, months and years: DK’s easygoing, genuine nature has put many at ease. While you’d never call his style confrontational, DK never had a problem “confronting and correcting” if the need arose, and seeing things are done his way. As an employer, what has always impressed me is DK’s “onward and upward” attitude that focuses on the next challenge and triumph instead of dwelling on a past misfire. I’ve seen young writers coming out of a closed door technical critique meeting with DK needing a tourniquet or two, yet the very next day that same writer would be included in an anecdote or impromptu meeting as if the literary bloodletting had never happened.
The anecdotes, insights, memories of 31 years working with DK could never be confined to this space, and his role in managing the company’s growth, digital adaptation, diversification and more is much too big to describe here. But overall it’s been 31 years of success and triumph, overcoming missteps here and there, and lots of good times.
So it’s with more than a little sadness and an earnest glimpse at the life calendar (feeling the years of my own time in the Hatton-Brown mine) that my wife and I—and past and present Hatton-Brown employees, friends, loggers, family and more—attended DK Knight’s retirement party at the end of March at a nice private club near Lake Martin, Ala., where DK moved several years ago in anticipation of eventually stepping away from his role as spearheading Timber Harvesting and Southern Logging’ Times magazines. The event was filled with fun and fellowship and lots of familiar faces, and my biggest regret is a family commitment that cut our time there short.
This is the last issue of Timber Harvesting showing Knight as a Hatton-Brown employee. (He becomes a “consultant” in May.) Yet here he still is, giving input on the survey, passing along news items and insights, stopping me in the hall at the end of the day just yesterday about the Cat-Weiler news item and the need to get it in despite being on the 1-foot-line to get the magazine out. So while his Hatton-Brown trail may have ended, the ride is far from over. And I wouldn’t want it any other way.