Al Martinez dropped again

This time the editors mean it: Al Martinez's last column is scheduled to run in the Los Angeles Times on Jan. 19. He asked to go until his 80th birthday in July, but the suggestion was rejected. Martinez has been at the Times 36 years, much if not most of that time as a columnist. You might remember that in 2007, Times editors summarily terminated his column and employment, but relented after a barrage of adverse reaction from readers and Martinez hitting the radio circuit on Warren Olney and Patt Morrison. Some top Times editors didn't know Martinez and were surprised that readers had a connection to him; the Times even ran a news story on the backlash, and promoted the paper's decision to bring him back with a spot in the California section. This time I suspect it's final. Martinez says he won't retire and will continue to blog and teach writing. I assume he'll also work on his books.