University salutes Extension crew working with no office after tornado; newspaper also demolished

Last week's string of violent storms and tornadoes left a path of destruction across rural Kentucky. The most severely hit community was West Liberty, the county seat of Morgan County (Wikipedia map), where the entire downtown was leveled. The University of Kentucky's Cooperative Extension Service office in the county was destroyed in the storm, but that hasn't stopped extension agent Sarah Fannin from helping her community rebuild. On UKnow, a university site, UK President Eli Capilouto saluted Fannin and other agents working without an office.

Fannin her house has become a temporary supply and donation drop-off point: "We are a community. Extension is a community. There’s not much difference between opening up [an office in my home] and opening up an office [somewhere else]. That’s how we operate in extension." She and the other agents are working on several "vital projects," including gathering school supplies, feed and supplies for livestock, barbed wire for temporary fencing and helping rebuild the local school, Capilouto reports, calling Fannin and her colleagues "a beacon of hope amid the darkened depths of despair."

Capilouto said he's not surprised by Fannin's quick action and service to her community: "In a sense, I knew Sarah Fannin before I ever spoke with her. Several months ago, I was moved by a national story in The New York Times that recounted the efforts of Sarah and her co-workers in UK’s Morgan County Extension Office. They are working with people throughout Eastern Kentucky, teaching them how create gardens of their own." (Read more)

The office of the local newspaper, the weekly Licking Valley Courier, "was demolished," and Publisher Earl Kinner's home across the street, left, "was leveled" as Kinner took refuge in the basement, Kentucky Press Association Executive Director David Thompson reports. Janet Patton of the Lexington Herald-Leader has a story about the paper's struggle to recover. (Photo by Keith Kappes, The Morehead News)

KPA's Kentucky Journalism Foundation has created a fund to assist the paper and any others in Eastern Kentucky that suffered damage. "If you wish to make a donation, please make the check payable to Kentucky Journalism Foundation and mail to 101 Consumer Lane, Frankfort, KY 40601," Thompson writes. "I'm pleased to report that contributions are on their way to the foundation from newspapers in other states as well as state press associations. And I’ve been in touch with Xerox Corporation to request the donation of a printer or two." The paper is printing a day late, in a truncated format, and has started a Facebook page.