EDITORIAL: The Editorial Year.

Dec. 31--Today closes a milestone year for the Editorial Pages and for the topics and people they cover. In May, Ross Mackenzie announced his retirement after more than 41 years with The News Leader and The Times-Dispatch. He became editor of The News Leader's Editorial Page in 1969 and editor of The Times-Dispatch's Editorial Pages at the 1992 merger of the morning and afternoon papers. Mackenzie will serve until January 18. This month Publisher Tom Silvestri announced that Todd Culbertson, deputy editor of the Editorial Pages, will replace Mackenzie as editor on January 18. During the week of the succession announcement, Culbertson celebrated his 30th anniversary with The News Leader and The Times-Dispatch. He will be succeeded as deputy editor by A. Barton Hinkle, senior editorial writer and columnist. Hinkle will continue to write his column, which appears twice weekly on the Op/Ed page.

The year also saw the retirement of Douglas Wilder as a Commentary Columnist. Wilder's monthly columns had appeared …