Nearly every member of the Commonwealth Journal newsroom took home something from the 2008 Kentucky Press Association “Excellence in Kentucky Newspapers” contest, using a strong mix of stories, photos and page design to earn recognition from their industry peers.
News editor Jeff Neal, sports editor Steve Cornelius, and reporters Tricia Neal and Susan Wheeldon all placed in the top three in a number of the contest’s categories, while reporters Chris Harris and Heather Pyles and editor emeritus Bill Mardis earned “honorable mention” status for their outstanding submissions.
Cornelius achieved a first place standing in the “Best Sports Picture Essay” category for a series of photographs capturing Oak Hill student Jill Collier, a fifth-grade cross country runner, in motion. One singles her out, capturing her alone in stride looking like any other athlete; another shot showed her diminutive size in proportion to the older runners around her, and a third captured a whimsical side of this youth known as one of the state’s best harriers.
“Great composition,” read the comments by the judge who scored Cornelius’ work. “Very eye-catching.”
Cornelius also won third place for “Best Sports Story,” telling the tale of Pulaski County girls basketball coach Larry Hurt’s last game on the sideline in February. “A great story about a tough coach,” said Cornelius’ judge. “A great lead, gives the readers insight into the man’s passion, talent and impact he has had on so many young lives. Wonderful job!”
Cornelius wasn’t the only CJ staffer to do well in a sports category. Wheeldon, a photography ace, claimed third place in “Best Sports Picture” for her shot of local youth gymnast Katie Dalton doing a backflip in mid-air, resulting in the KPA judges’ praise: “Great composition, very nice image captured under difficult circumstances.”
Tricia Neal showed her stuff with three awards this year. Annually a contender in the “Best Column” category, Neal again picked up a third place ranking for opinion pieces on the local animal shelter controversy, the smoking ban debate, and why love songs today don’t match up to the radio hits of yesteryear. “‘Just an Old-Fashioned Love Song,’ I get that!” said the judge.
Neal also won second place in “Best On-Going/Extended Coverage Story” for her October, 2007 account of century-old bones discovered near Boat Dock Road — “I really liked this story,” said the judge. “The reporter thoroughly engaged me in this local mystery.” Neal received an Honorable Mention for her “Best General News Story” in October, 2007, detailing Somerset Mayor Eddie Girdler’s use of an SUV bought with gas department money. “Good public service story, draws a good idea to remind government officials whose money they are spending,” read the judges’ comments.
Mardis also did well in the “On-Going/Extended Coverage” selections, with an Honorable Mention for his coverage of the Wolf Creek Dam Crisis. “An important local story thoroughly covered,” said the judge.
Jeff Neal won second place for “Best Editorial Page,” for entries featuring opinions on the animal shelter, county road supervisor Steven Johnson, the Ferguson dissolution vote, Pulaski County’s history, and an example of local youth football scouting run amok (as compared to New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick).
“Denotes plenty of space to community comments and sticks mostly to local issues, with a nice, clean layout,” said the judge.
Harris and Pyles shared an Honorable Mention for “Best Spot News Story,” referring to news coverage of unplanned events. The March incident told in the story involved a local inmate who escaped his work detail with the help of his mother.
“Using details and quotes, the strong narrative provides a different glimpse into what could have been a straight news story,” said the judge. “The comments by police, the descriptives and photos bring this jail break gone awry to life.”
The contest considered entries from October of 2007 to September of 2008, and was judged by members of the press from out-of-state.
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Big Bang Theory
Pulaski County is not at war. The booming you may hear at dusk is mock cannon fire to scare away birds.
Stuart Spillman, environmental director for the Lake Cumberland Health Department, said at least three cannons are on loan from the department to residents who want to scare away swarms of starlings and blackbirds settling in to roost.
He said a cannon is being used by a resident on Laura Lane off Ky. 39; another is in the Oak Hill Road area and a third is on Ashurst Street in the eastern part of Somerset.
Spillman said a timer on each cannon allows it to “fire” at whatever frequency is desired. The cannons must be used as the birds circle before going to roost. “After they settle in, nothing will chase them out,” Spillman said.
The Health Department doesn’t operate the cannons unless there is a specific complaint in an area where there are lots of birds, Spillman noted. He said so far this year the birds are not as bad as in the past. -
Boil water advisory is lifted countywide
The water controversy that Pulaski County has been boiling over — so to speak — for the last week is finally over.
At 10 minutes after noon Wednesday, the “boil water” advisory for the Western Pulaski Water District was lifted — almost a full week after the problems began around 1 p.m. last Thursday.
Prior to that, the Somerset Water Service — along with the other water providers in its system, including Science Hill Water, Southeastern Water, and Eubank Water — lifted their advisories, with Somerset on Saturday afternoon and the last, Southeastern, by Monday morning. Western Pulaski was the last in the system to complete sample testing for potential contaminants, due to not being able to access its Pikeville-based testing lab until Monday.
Somerset Mayor Eddie Girdler thanked the public for its patience and understanding during the duration of the boil water advisory — put in place to keep citizens from drinking water that could have been contaminated after an accident last Thursday at the water plant site — and also thanked all the city employees for their hard work during this time.
“The boil water advisory went about as well as would be expected,” said Girdler.
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