Things are starting to get a little bit lonely for me here in the News Journal newsroom. First, Jennifer Perkins left us a couple of weeks ago to pursue a job in television. Now News Journal Sports Editor Dean Manning left us at the end of the week to become a police dispatcher....

The response to my column last week was great. I had written about our need for a delivery driver and news reporters. We had advertised in several places, including the job opportunities listing by the Kentucky Press Association, for three weeks with no response. Then I wrote my...

There is plenty to do in downtown Corbin and Williamsburg this Saturday. The second annual Colonel Fest will take place from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. on Main Street in downtown Corbin. The event is being held in honor of Corbin’s most famous resident, Colonel Harland Sanders, who founded...

In my 34 years at this newspaper I have never been confronted with the problem we are facing now, that is, lack of reporters and delivery personnel. We are not alone with this dilemma. Businesses everywhere are looking for employees. If you or if you know of a person who would...

I have seen girls out on the high school football field. I don’t remember the exact team, but the center was a girl. It wasn’t a local team, but she hung right in there with the boys. The majority of times that I have seen girls on the football field has been as the place kicker....

What, if anything, can the Whitley County Detention Center do to help prevent inmates from re-offending once they are released from custody? What can the sheriff’s department do, if anything, to better combat the drug problem in Whitley County? Is county government effectively...

About a year and a half ago we had an opening for a news reporter. Our staff urged me to call Jennifer Perkins and see if she would be interested in the job. She had done intern work here and the staff liked her and her abilities very much. Fortunately she accepted my offer. The...

Pretty much all of us did some stupid stuff when we were in high school. Let’s face it, teenagers have a tendency to do that kind of thing. I know that I did a few bonehead things myself at that age. Fortunately, I grew up in an era when everyone wasn’t carrying around a camera...

What are you supposed to say when you are expected to say goodbye to something you very much wish to hold onto? This is the very conundrum I am facing as I must say goodbye to this community as I embark on my next adventure.  For almost a year and a half, I have been blessed and...

Last year, as a member of a committee at Central Baptist Church to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the church, we started meeting early in the year and set the date for the celebration in October. Covid was a problem then but the vaccines were out and we thought by October we...

Some parts of my job are a lot more exciting than others. On the plus side, you have the more interesting stuff, such as meeting famous or well-known people, like musicians, congressmen, United States senators and governors. I have met and interviewed every Kentucky governor...

It was 10:25 in the morning when Atlanta insurance salesman George Burnett decided he needed to call a friend at Communications International, a public relations company in the same town. For the 41-year-old father of five it would be a phone call that would change his life … and...

Election day is getting close. It will be held on May 17. Several signs are posted and some of the candidates are making the rounds soliciting votes. The candidate’s name on a sign in a yard is okay but it tells you very little about the person running for office. That is why our...

I know there is a reason why the schools in the area of Kentucky located in Jackson, Clay, Laurel, Whitley, Knox, Bell and Harlan counties make up the 13th Region. As Tom Hanks’ character, Jim Lovell, famously, told his wife in the blockbuster movie, “Apollo 13” when she asked...

Some people might be surprised to find out that when I first started as a professional journalist nearly 29 years ago, environmental concerns were a big deal here in southeastern Kentucky although not in the way many people might be concerned about the environment today. Illegal...

I am not much for surfing the Internet, looking at Facebook, Twitter and all the other Apps there are with input from subscribers which contains inaccuracies, especially with historical facts. But this past week it was brought to my attention that there had been several inquires...

I have a rescue dog at home that is part Shih Tzu and, we are pretty sure, part terrier. Maggy looks like a black Shih Tzu. Shih Tzus are cute. Every dog lover loves a Shih Tzu. But, several years ago, one person in the parking lot at The Arena almost experienced one part of...

As a journalist, I talk to people a lot. It’s just part of what I do. Even when I am not working, I still tend to talk to people quite a bit when I am out and about so let me tell you about a couple of interesting conversations that I had recently, including an interesting...

What a weekend for sports. As I said last week, this is my favorite month for sports because of the high school and college basketball tournaments. For the most part the tournament activity didn’t disappoint. The Corbin boys team lost last Thursday night, but after that it was...

It took seventeen cents for me to begin to understand the often sad and frustrating reality of the approximately 150,000 Kentuckians living with dementia. When I arrived at Christian Community Care in Corbin on Feb. 24, I had a vague understanding of what I would be doing. I had...