Great feedback from our sample mailing last week. Many of you took up our special offer and subscribed. During the Covid period our number of subscribers, like many other newspapers, hit a decline. Thankfully those numbers are starting to rise again. Studies show us that for a...

The 39th Annual Old Fashioned Trading Days had a nice turnout last week in downtown Williamsburg. There seemed to be a pretty good sized crowd when I left Williamsburg late last Thursday afternoon. Friday morning’s entertainment was nice with the Whitley Central Intermediate...

Some of you may ask why you are getting a free News Journal? It is because we want you to join the thousands of others who read our local newspaper every week as subscribers. In this edition are subscription ads for a one time special offer of $38 for a full year subscription for...

There’s been a lot of big things happening in the world of local sports in recent days, including Corbin Redhound legend Frank Selvy being inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame.

Much has been written about the passing of Bill Russell, who many consider among the best basketball players to ever play the game. With high school state championships and two NCAA titles at the University of San Francisco, the Louisiana native, was even better in leading the...

Sometimes one decision can change the trajectory of your future, such as deciding which college to attend. During my senior year of high school, I was all set to go to the University of Kentucky. I had the student aid documents all filled out. I had a housing assignment for the...

Anyone who followed along with our recent NIBROC Festival activities knows that we had planned on also making an appearance with a booth at the 2022 Old Fashioned Trading Days Festival, taking place this Thursday-through-Saturday in downtown Williamsburg. However, due to...

My background in the newspaper field for many years had been centered on advertising sales and management until I took the job as publisher of this newspaper in 1987. That is when I first started writing. To run a successful local newspaper Al Smith, whom I worked for in London...

In early February of 2020, none of us had any idea that life would soon change forever due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. Very soon, businesses would be disrupted, church pews would empty, and schools would send students home to learn via e-mail and Zoom conference calls.

First off, let me clarify something about last week’s column regarding the death of former Whitley County Judge-Executive and Jailer Jerry Taylor. I have since realized that there were a number of people, who took offense to the Jerry Taylor story I mentioned about his father...

I was younger than most of the people who worked in the downtown area of Corbin when I started my job as an announcer and sportscaster at radio station WCTT 61 years ago. Now I am older than most who work in this area as I approach my 83rd birthday this Friday. My wife and I both...

There is always a certain level of excitement that comes with the start of each new sports season.

Whether you loved him or hated him – and there were certainly a few people who did one or the other – you didn’t have to spend much time around former Whitley County Judge-Executive and Jailer Jerry Taylor to figure out why the guy kept getting elected so much in his life. He was...

Golf is big. Even though I haven’t played in more than five years, I still really enjoy watching it. It’s better if Tiger is playing.\ Where I live backs up to number four tee, and it seems rain or shine, hot or cold someone is always teeing it up. Over the years the game has...

College. It’s a great thing for many people, myself included, but it isn’t for everybody. You know what, that’s not a bad thing. Yes, the world needs engineers, scientists, astronomers, doctors and lawyers. It also needs electricians, carpenters, plumbers and farmers. I’ve long...

Shew, what a weekend it was!

Flooding. The sheer terrifying force of Mother Nature unleashed in the form of flowing, rushing and rising water that leaves devastation, destruction and a trail of stinking, stagnant mud and mold in its wake. The recent massive flash flooding event in eastern Kentucky, which has...

Seventy years! There are several of us that were here to attend the first Nibroc Festival 70 years ago. Personally, I have attended 65 of the 69. Those of us that were here for the first festival remember it well. The carnival was on the lot at the corner of Main and 7th Street...

Here we are… NIBROC 2022!

Besides death and taxes, change may be the only other constant in life. Businesses open and close. Each year kindergarten teachers get a new group of students to educate. People come and go. I thought I would take a few moments this week to recognize some people and one dog who...