One thing about doing journalism in a small town compared to some place bigger is that in a small community – like it or not – you are going to directly get feedback from time to time about what you write.
For instance, take Thanksgiving Day. I had driven down to Williamsburg to cover the annual Turkey Trot 5k, and stopped off at a local convenience store on my way home to get something to drink.
I am looking in one of the aisles when I hear one of the female clerks tell the other female clerk, “You can’t do anything without it being all over the News Journal!” or words immediately to that effect as she held up a copy of the newspaper turned to our public records page.
Now, when you work at a newspaper and hear those words, things can go one of a handful of ways.
You might have somebody looking for a confrontation, who is unhappy about something that you have written. (This isn’t to say that anyone ever gets unhappy with things that I write from time to time…LOL.)
You might have someone, who recognizes you, and just wants to joke around with you or pay you a compliment.
Then again, you also might get someone, who doesn’t actually know who you are, and, coincidentally, you just so happened to be standing within earshot when they make a comment about something that you wrote.
Taking about five seconds to evaluate the possibilities in this particular instance, I chimed in laughingly with, “it’s nice to know that I am well read.”
The woman holding up the paper turned to the editorial page and quickly glanced at my column picture recognizing me.
As it turned out in this case, they hadn’t known who I was initially. The two ladies had just been having a conversation about a fellow employee or former employee, who had gotten arrested.
The three of us chit chatted for a couple of minutes with a few chuckles factored into the mix.
I had another such incident a couple of weeks ago.
The printing plant’s delivery truck had broken down and Trevor Sherman had to drive up to the printing plant in London to pick-up the newspapers. Because things were behind schedule, Trevor and I each took about half a dozen delivery stops to help out Timothy Wyatt, who was delivering the paper that day.
At my second stop that morning, I was delivering the paper to a local Dollar General store where we happened to sell out the prior week. I thought I knew where the newspaper should go, but I asked the clerk to make sure that I was right.
After I put the papers in the correct spot, she picked one up and started looking at the story at the top of the front page about the Whitley County Detention Center being named in a wrongful death lawsuit following the death of an inmate.
She then asked out loud something along the lines of, “How many times is this going to happen?”
I replied that I couldn’t answer how many times this is going to happen. I then reached over and gently rotated the paper over show the bottom of the front page and pointed out the story there indicating that six inmates at the detention center had died since Jan. 1, 2019, and it had resulted in three wrongful death lawsuits.
Another memorable instance happened about six years or so ago, when I happened to be over at Dr. John Mountjoy’s dentist office. I think I stopped in there to pay my bill or something, and the office manager, Peggy, was there talking with another woman.
The conversation turned to something in the newspaper, and Peggy asked if I had read it.
“I wrote it,” I replied laughingly.
“That’s right. You did,” she responded with a slightly bigger laugh.
Moral of this column is that sometimes reader feedback can lead to funny stories.
