Melich and Lincoln knew that everyone in the arts community was talking about it. Everyone who had seen it was talking about it. "Ivan felt it was important that his readers knew about it, too."

Today, as newspapers all over the country are cutting back, trimming staff, Melich says Lincoln's devotion to the local arts may become increasingly rare. On his last year on the job, Lincoln kept track of the productions of nearly 80 theater companies.

Watch him having his retirement photo taken, and you'll not be surprised when he reaches in his pocket for a clown nose. Ask him about his childhood and he'll talk about the droll parts.

He'll say he only weighed 2 pounds 3 ounces when he was born and from the time he can remember he hated going for his annual physical because his family doctor would parade him around the waiting room, introducing him as "my miracle baby." (Lincoln notes that the tiny hospital where he was born eventually became the offices for Twin Falls County's Bureau of Noxious Weed Control.)

Ask him about the highlights of his career and he'll mention meeting (and having lunch with) Carol Channing, and interviewing Debbie Reynolds, Robert Peterson, Eugene Jelesnik and even Big Bird.

When Lincoln retires, he'll spend more time with his family — wife LuAnn and three daughters. He'll work on some genealogy. He'll help a friend finish her book, a biography of her late husband. Also, he says, he's going to try to write a play.

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E-mail: susan@desnews.com