Rural county says goodbye to longtime publisher

The line to the casket ran out the front door of the funeral home in Jamestown, Ky., yesterday as the people of Russell County said goodbye to David Davenport, who had edited or published their leading local newspaper for decades.

Davenport, 71, died Sunday of lung cancer. He was publisher and co-owner of The Times Journal of Russell Springs and the Russell County News-Register, which was created by a recent absorption of a competing weekly paper. The Times Journal's story is here.

This item is a point of personal privilege for the undersigned, who in 1975 edited and managed a weekly that was printed at The Times Journal. Dave Davenport helped me become a professional community journalist -- he would say "newspaper man" -- and I remain in his debt.