“I have given a lot of thought to continuing Gripe Vine. Feb. 20 will be my last.”
With that short statement, a longtime staple for many readers of the West Haven Voice will end after more than two decades.
Eleanore Turkington, the columnist who has made The Gripe Vine a must read for many years, has decided to end the series. A member of the newspaper profession for more than half a century, the Gripe Vine originated in the pages of the Milford Citizen as was a consumer action column that quickly became popular in a time when consumer advocacy was becoming an issue.
Over the years through the Citizen, the column branched out to other satellite publications of the Citizen group, which was then run by Thompson Newspaper. The West Haven News picked up the column in the late 1980s and ran it until the paper was purchased by the New Haven Register in 1995.
“Eleanore gave a lot of city leaders fits in those days, especially when they didn’t answer her calls,” said Voice editor Bill Riccio, Jr., who was with the News at the time. “Many just didn’t want to be questioned. But she was persistent.
Eventually, the column was offered to the West Haven Voice when Turkington went into retirement with her husband Richard, who was a violinist for the West Haven Orchestra, under the direction of Dino Ciaburri. Eleanore became the PR director for the group, which rehearsed and had concerts in the former St. Paul’s Church on First Avenue.
Over the years the same feistiness that irked officials in other towns upset local officials, but over the years a working relationship had been established with many administrations.
“Eleanore had a simple philosophy, an official was a public servant, and members of the public were asking questions about simple thing that should be easy to answer,” said Riccio. “She also let them know that she’d get the answer with them or without them, so that usually settled the dispute.
She also brought issues to the attention of city council members as well as city officials. Many readers became regular correspondents, sending her signature coupon that always stood alongside her column, or using the Voice website to send in complaints.
Whether it was a frost-heaved sidewalk that was dangerous, or trash left in a heap along a roadway, she made sure she would get an answer for readers. Sometimes it was a short period. Some answers, however, took longer. Few were the issues or topics she could not answer or remedy.
In the last year or so, health issues have hampered Turkington, with stints in hospitals keeping her away from her computer.
In her note announcing her retirement, Turkington kept her readers in mind.
“I am currently planning to let my readers in my last column my feelings about working with citizens and city personnel<” she said.
“I’ve known Eleanore since I first went to work for the West Haven Voice in 1980,” said Riccio. “Saying this is the end of an era sounds trite, but this was a regular column that spoke to a lot of people. It’s tough to see it go, and El decide to retire. It’s a sad day.”