This is my final “In the Vally” column. My 31-month stint as Naugatuck Valley bureau chief ended on Friday; today, I began my new job as the Republican-American’s business editor.

That means a number of things. It means I trade my blue carrel in the five-person bureau across from Town all on Maple Street for a green carrel in the main office on Meadow Street in Waterbury. I also trade in my bureau key for a key “fob”, a small, plastic device that electronically signals a key-pad to unlock a door.

It also means parking in the lot beneath the newspaper’s landmark clock tower, instead of circling the borough’s downtown for a parking space.

Much to my family’s delight, it also means trading my second shift hours – which regularly include burning the midnight I well after midnight – for the first shift hours that will get me home before my children (and my wife) bed down for the night. That alone makes it all worth while.

Make not mistake; I look forward to the challenges of running the news paper’s business section. But hard as it may be to believe – for me, especially – I have discovered I am actually going to miss the bureau, and the Naugatuck Valley.

I was warned when I took this job that the Valley was unlike anyplace else, a world unto itself. That has proven true.

The Naugatuck bureau covers four Valley towns – Naugatuck, Beacon Falls, Oxford, and Seymour – (in addition to Prospect) on a daily basis. All four have similar issues with overburdened taxpayers, minimal grand list growth, and rough and tumble politics. As one who grew up in white collar West Hartford – not wealthy by any means, my family certainly never wanted for anything – witnessing the Valley’s struggles as its blue-collar roots were pulled out from beneath it was eye-opening to say the least.

I also met some remarkable people. Two stand out. They both made a lasting impression because of their determination and willingness to battle against seemingly insurmountable odds.

First is Bryan Nurnberger, founder of Simply Smiles, an organization dedicated solely to helping Casa Hogar, an orphanage in central Mexico.

I chronicled Bryan’s efforts in this space many times. He spent six months battling Mexican authorities as her tried to bring a school bus filled with medical supplies, toiletries, clothing, toys, and eighty personalized quilts to Casa Hogar.

When he left the borough in July 2003, he thought it would be a two- week trip. But when he got to the border, he discovered Mexican authorities had changed the rules.

It reminded me of the movie, “Rollerball,” the original that starred James Caan. In that movie, Rollerball was a team sport; no individual was supposed to stand out. As Caan’s character, “Johnathan E”, began to excel to the pint that he was becoming bigger than the game, league officials began changing the rules to prevent it. Each time they did, Johnathan E excelled in a more heroic way.

Bryan’s experience was something like that. Each time Mexican authorities changed the rules, he adjusted and refused to quit. His perseverance, steeled by his love for the orphans, saw him through. It was a story I was glad to tell.