Problem solved as column proves to be best want ad

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 column and we received several calls.

Don Estep is publisher of the News Journal.

I am very pleased to say that the first person to call about the delivery position has been hired. I even promised the other callers that if anything opened I would call them. As for the news reporter vacancy, I received four calls and we are interviewing this week for that position.

I have worked in radio and newspaper all my professional life. At times one wonders if anybody is listening or if anybody is reading your column. I knew that my boss, my wife and sister always read my column, but last week made me feel good to know that a number of others are also reading it. Every call we received about the job openings came from reading my column.

As for my days in radio I had an experience that revealed I had at least one listener. It was when the Brooklyn Dodgers moved to Los Angeles and the baseball games started very late.

Back then Waite Hoyt was the broadcaster for the Reds and he stayed in Cincinnati when the games were being played in Los Angeles. You could hear the ticker tape running in the background and Waite would announce what was taking place out west. There wasn’t any crowd noise and the broadcast was very dull.

So one night after the game had gone into extra innings and it was about 2:30 in the morning I turned on the microphone and announced, “If I don’t get a phone call within five minutes I’m turning this game off and going home.”

Immediately the phone rang and the caller said, “I’m the night watchman at the Town House Motel and I’m listening to the game.” That was it, one phone call and I had to stay until about 3:30 a.m. before the game was over. At least the Reds had a good team back then.

Thanks for the response to all who called about the job openings and thanks also to all who read the News Journal and include reading this column each week. We appreciate you.

• On another subject there seems to be a problem with dogs, or to put it more accurately, a pet owner problem.

Last night Lexington TV reported a person had been bitten by a dog. The same thing happen to a high school student in Corbin.

A few days ago when I was leaving my office on Main Street in Corbin three dogs, a large one, a medium size one, and a small one were walking down the street together. It was cute but these dogs should not have been running loose.

Then when I was visiting my sister in Corbin and started walking back to my vehicle there was a dog so big and mean looking that I turned and went back inside until it was gone.

And every time it thunders the Internet is full of, “have you seen my dog” listings because their dogs are scared and run away. And the noise pollution from barking dogs is unbearable.

These problems are at an epidemic level and deserve attention and a solution from elected officials.

And to the dog owners who chain their dog to a six foot chain, how would you like it if you were chained that way? Come on people, be kind and take care of your pets!