The debate about whether to kill the Green Sheet from the pages of the Milwaukee Journal lasted more than a decade.

I was working there in 1982 when I first heard about the discussion and will forever remember a crusty editor named Tom Lubenow standing in the middle of the newsroom.

"Only stupid people read this crap (he didn’t use the word crap; I'm paraphrasing)," he shouted. "Let’s dump this thing."

Lubenow was probably motivated by the fact that he had only so much newsprint available every day and hated the idea that four pages had to be devoted to this sheet that featured an advice column by Ione Quinby Griggs. Mrs. Griggs was ancient when I was there.

She always wore a hat, a frilly white blouse and a dark skirt. She’d hold her purse in front of her as she minced across the newsroom to her desk. She never said anything to anyone, as far as I could tell.

But now, like Arnold Schwarzenegger, "It’s baaaack!"

I have no idea why. The only people who might possibly be interested in this thing are closer to dying than they are to working. People wonder why the paper would do this.

Actually, I do know why.

They have given up trying to get the people under 60 to read the paper. Nobody I know needs the paper to see what’s on TV or to find out what movies are playing or even to play a crossword puzzle. All of that is available in easier and more complete formats online.

The paper is saying "We give up."

Most people I know under 60 have long maintained that the newspaper is drastically out of touch and is totally lost on the information highway. They've got a ponderous and hard to use website and a smaller and smaller staff to generate unique copy.

I also think it’s interesting that the day the Green Sheet premiered is also the day I cancelled my subscription to the print edition of the paper.

I love a newspaper. I read it. I like the way the ink stains my hands and the way it smells. But even I, as old and crotchety as I am, realize that I can live without the newspaper, and especially the Green Sheet.