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A round-up of all things Clark County…

I met Tim Smith of WWKY the other morning; was on the radio being interviewed by Cindy Banks, executive director of the Winchester-Clark County Chamber of Commerce.

What did I learn? Tim is a longtime radio personality who, like me when it comes to newspapers, chooses to work in smaller settings than some of the big metro type radio stations because he enjoys being connected to the community.

Being on the radio was fun — Cindy did a good job interviewing me. She’s very conversational. Did you know that she grew up in Clark County? Yep. She very much believes in the chamber’s mission. What’s good for business, is good for the chamber and the community.

In other news, I attended a college scholarship signing Wednesday for Aden Slone, who will be playing basketball for Delta State University in Mississippi. Good kid who I am told is an amazing point guard. Hard worker too.

After the signing ceremony, I met the Smoke Signals’ editor Cameron Anderson, whose two older sisters had also served as editor of the school paper back during their time at GRC. Anderson is an avid photographer, knows a lot about sports and cares a great deal about her school.
While at GRC, I met with Shanda Crosby, longtime adviser for Smoke Signals, which has to be the best student newspaper I’ve ever seen, read. I think the fall edition was at least 24 pages thick and filled with many stories about Cardinals’ student life. And that’s just the print edition. Smoke Signals’ online and social media presence is top notch. Superintendent McComas spoke highly of Crosby and what she’s done for the Cards’ journalism program.

Crosby recalled working for Sun’s legendary editor Bill Blakeman many years ago. Blakeman was editor of the Sun newspaper for forty years who passed away Jan. 9, 2014. His obituary says he was president of The Kentucky Associated Press editors on three occasions and served 50 years as a deacon at Central Baptist Church in Winchester. Blakeman was a 50 year member of Winchester Kiwanis Club, a charter member of the Bluegrass Heritage Museum and past president of the Board. Due to Blakeman’s strong commitment to the Sun and Clark County, I suspect I would’ve enjoyed working with this editor.

Crosby worked for the Sun for four years before getting a public relations job Eastern Ky Power, raising a family and starting a second career as a journalism teacher at GRC.

Crosby said she’s liked the recent changes she’s seen in Sun, particularly the strong emphasis on local news and Cardinals’ sports coverage. Much appreciated.

On that note, our annual letters to Santa section will be published next week. Like Santa, I’ve been checking the list, checking it twice to make sure we print everyone’s letter and there were many, many, many letters. Elves and I will be working on that project this weekend before it goes to press.
Santa reads the Sun, a longtime subscriber. If you haven’t sent the Sun a letter to Santa, then this is your last chance. Send it to me directly at miles.layton@winchestersun.com

In other news, Tim Janes says they were playing Frank Sinatra records at Brooks Place the other week. I wish I could’ve gone to the party, but I was battling through a long, very long shift to publish the 4-section weekend edition of the Sun. Thanks for the invite. I look forward to Rotary in January.

Lastly from Dianna Layne at City Hall, Central Baptist plans to have the Warming Shelter up and running this week. The shelter is utilized for days that are 20 degrees or lower. The weather forecast on WKYT called for Thursday night to drop below 20 degrees, so that was scheduled to be the first night the shelter was open. Shelter hours will be 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. Layne plan to have 11 cots and that will be capacity for now. The church is located at 101 W Lexington Ave. The warming shelter will be in the old Columbia Gas building on Lexington Ave beside the church parking lot. There will be a white neon open sign on the nights that the shelter is open.

Also, City of Winchester Public Works crews have completed two more circuits collecting an additional 48 loads of leaves. This brings the cumulative total to 85 loads. Beginning Monday (Dec. 20) crews will begin the 5th circuit over the city. City is planning on ending leaf collection for the year on Dec. 30; need to prepare for snow season. After that time residents can bag leaves and set out on their trash day for WMU to pick up.