By JAMES BROWN
GLASGOW — The Kentucky Press Association had its annual winter conference and awards banquet Thursday and Friday in Lexington.
The Daily Times had staffers win awards for items published in the newspaper between Oct. 1, 2008, and Sept. 30, 2009.
News editor Burton Speakman won for an editorial on why then-jailer Leland Cox should resign immediately after he entered an Alford plea in the case where he was accused of sexual misconduct toward employees at the Barren County Correction Center. The editorial pointed out that in Kentucky the voters have no recourse to remove a public official from office if that official is convicted of a crime or accepts some form of guilty plea. Cox’s case is not the lone example in Kentucky. There is a judge-executive sitting in jail and still holding the elected post in eastern Kentucky. While our legislators are talking tax reform in Frankfort, maybe they should talk political reform as well.
Also, former sports editor John Verser won an award for his coverage of Jason Esters’ hiring as football coach at Glasgow High School, and his subsequent resignation.
Our Web site, www.glasgowdailytimes.com, was recognized by the judges as one of the top ones in the state for our size newspaper. That award was greatly appreciated because we’ve made an effort to turn our site into a destination of information for what is happening in Barren County. That effort also has been rewarded with views of our Web site, which have increased by more than 25,000 per month in a year’s time.
On the way home along the Bluegrass Parkway in a fog as thick as burgoo, I realized I could not see the overhead road signs until my car was almost right under them. Couldn’t the state put lights on them, or reflective lettering? I’m certain it would be appreciated.
