ORANGE BEACH, Ala. — In case some of you don’t know my background, I have about 27 years worth of newspaper experience, but being a reporter is new to me.

I was one of the inside guys, the nuts and bolts guys who put the paper together, the ones actually working on a deadline. We didn’t get finished on time, the press didn’t run on time.

But I edited stuff, picked and cropped photos for publication, designed some pages, sometimes fancy ones. I wrote an occasional travel story to get a free vacation day.

And, I started out as a sports reporter, but that was football and basketball and baseball games. Maybe I’d write an occasional feature, but no real reporting.

I’d never covered city hall until I semi-retired to Orange Beach. Never did any government reporting whatsoever. Others around me did it and I was waiting for them to finish up so I could finish my pages. But never was I the reporter.

Now I’m all of those things I used to do plus editor, photographer and reporter. That’s life at small newspapers and It can be quite fun. I pretty much have free reign, I love taking pictures and I love writing about people I live and interact with daily.

So, the BP/Justice proposed deal broke this week and if it comes to fruition, it could cost our area lots of money in BP fines we thought were headed this way.

Rep. Jo Bonner, R-Mobile and our two U.S. senators had worked hard to get the RESTORE Act through. Mayor Robert Craft testified before congress about it. Countless people have worked hard to make that happen.

When It came about that might not happen like they were promised in July when the law was signed, I figured a comment from the Congressman would be appropriate.

I emailed his PR representative, Mike Lewis, and asked if I might could have a quote from Bonner on the subject emailed to me. My cell and home/office numbers are on the end of all emails I send.

As I was talking to a colleague on the cell, the home/office phone rings. The caller ID says: US CAPITOL.

Immediately I hit the ignore button on it thinking “I don’t have time to hear a credit card pitch.”

Turns out, it was the U.S. Capitol. Turns out it was Bonner’s office.

I called a number Mike had sent me via email and being semi-retired and keeping my good ol’ boy attitude in the face of a call from most powerful seat of government in the world, told him immediately of my gaffe.

“Never heard that one before,” Mike said.

I’m figuring this reporter thing out, but the learning curve is steep.

And the next time the caller ID says “US CAPITOL” I’m going to pay a lot more attention.