tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13520324.post1503479615948264805..comments2024-03-21T13:15:26.838-04:00Comments on The Rural Blog: John Carroll, one of America's great editors, made us all better, and will continue to be an inspirationMelissa Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01558431327921705882noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13520324.post-65636303287081430972015-06-15T09:29:46.671-04:002015-06-15T09:29:46.671-04:00Al,
Very nice piece on John Carroll. I hadn’t eve...Al,<br /><br />Very nice piece on John Carroll. I hadn’t even realized he was ill. He and his wife drove to Whitesburg a couple of years ago while he was working on a book that I dealt with his involvement with UK basketball/Pulitzer. Without getting too far into it, he was retracing Sam Bowie’s steps to Fleming-Neon and the job Bowie and other UK players held on a strip mine around the time Bowie suffered a major leg injury, apparently the result of Bowie's being young and having fun on a mini bike, though whether he got the injury in that manner was never known for sure.<br /><br />At any rate, Mr. Carroll and his wife invited me out for what ended up being a long dinner/meeting at the Courthouse Cafe in Whitesburg. He genuinely appreciated the help and information I gave to him and treated me as if he had known me for my entire life. I will forever be grateful that I was able to thank him on that night for the work he did in trying to get the Pulitzer Prize people to recognize my parents for their “lifetime achievement.” I will also never forget that he was very proud — and rightfully so — of his family, particularly his son’s high-level involvement in organizing the Lollapalooza Festival and other big-time concert events across the U.S.<br /><br />Upon hearing of his death early Sunday afternoon I couldn’t help but reflect on just how vital he helped make the Lexington Herald-Leader to the people of eastern Kentucky in a very short time. And with the Courier-Journal answering the Herald-Leader’s gains here tit-for-tat, it made for a period of daily newspaper coverage in this region that seems mind-blowing by today’s standards. (In the Sixties and Seventies, the only daily papers in Letcher County were The Courier-Journal and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.)<br /><br />In large part because of Mr. Carroll’s efforts, the coverage got to be so good the Associated Press saw fit to open a bureau in Pikeville. Sadly, hardly any of what Mr. Carroll helped create exists today. It's hard to find the Herald-Leader on newsstands and even harder to have it delivered to your home. The once-mighty and great protector or our region, The Courier-Journal, can't be found here at all, and while the Pikeville AP bureau has never been officially closed, it hasn't been staffed in many years. And we wonder why daily newspapers are in trouble today?<br /><br />Thanks,<br /><br />BenBen Gishnoreply@blogger.com