We point and shoot, you click and buy

After about a year hiatus, The Jessamine Journal is once again selling its photos via its Web site, www.jessaminejournal.com.
The service is worthwhile be-cause on average, Journal reporters take about 30 to 50 pictures per assignment. The sports department probably doubles or triples that output. We take a bunch of photos, but we probably use two, maybe three pictures on a given event.
So that leaves many pictures that the public doesn’t get a chance to see. This service will allow the public to see most of what we take (we delete the out-of-focus ones) and gives our readers the opportunity to purchase those photos. It’s an easy process, and one that allows the reporters to be hands-off.
Customers are able to order the size and number of prints he or she wants, and once the order is placed, it takes only a few days before the photo arrives.
At one time, the Journal offer-ed this service, but the bugs were many, and the profits were few. So about a year and a half or so ago, we stopped offering it. In theory, the upload of the photos should take just a few minutes. In reality, it was taking hours, and last I heard, the paper was averaging about $1.98 a month in sales.
Presently, when someone wants to purchase a photo, it’s a time-consuming process. They have to get a hold of us and tell us which picture they would like. From there, we’d have to make time to hunt the picture down, collect the money and give the picture to the consumer.
MyCapture will eliminate all of that. All of this comes on the heels of a meeting the Journal news staff had with our Kentucky group Web master over the past few weeks.
The service is now up and running, and as of Monday afternoon, photos of 16 events have been uploaded.

Odd-n-ends:
• Camp Nelson National Cemetery’s Memorial Day ceremony was nothing short of super. Speaking as a veteran (having served in the Air Force active duty from 1989 to 1995, and reserves from 1995 to 2001), it’s great when the nation as a whole takes moment to remember those who paid the ultimate price for the freedoms we all too often take for granted.
• Recently, Jessamine County celebrated EMS week. Though I have never been a customer of those men and women who earn a living taking care of our residents, I’m pleased to say I’ve met a number of them throughout the years. I’m glad they’re on board and hope one day that they make a salary commensurable to the duties they perform.
• Thumbs up to the Jessamine County Board of Education for having the smarts to rename the central office building after Pete Royce before his passing a few weeks ago. I dealt with Pete only on a handful of occasions, but his strong commitment to his Christian faith and the school system was evident. He will be missed.
• Last Saturday’s health fair at Saint Joseph Jessamine RJ Corman Ambulatory Care Center was a hit, as more than 500 people turned out for the event which featured a lot of fun, and solid health education and screenings.

MyCapture, take two

I have received word that once again, The Jessamine Journal will begin selling its photos on its Web site, www.jessaminejournal.com.
Now, when, and at what cost is still to be determined. But if I had to venture a guess, I’d say it will happen before May is over with.
Why this service would be beneficial is simple. Journal reporters take about 30 to 50 pictures per assignment, on average. The sports department probably doubles or triples that output. We take a bunch of photos, but we probably use 2, maybe three pictures.
So that leaves many pictures that the public doesn’t get a chance to see. This service will allow the public to see most of what we take (we delete the out of focus ones) and gives our readers the opportunity to purchase those photos.
At one time, the Journal offered this service, but the bugs were many, and the profits were few. So about a year and a half or so ago, we stopped offering it. In theory, the upload of the photos should take just a few minutes. In reality, it was taking hours, and last I heard, the paper was averaging about $1.98 a month in sales.
Presently, when someone wants to purchase a photo, it’s a time consuming process. They have to get a hold of us, and tell us which picture they would like. From there, we’d have to make time to hunt the picture down, collect the money and give the picture to the consumer.
MyCapture will eliminate all of that.
I’ve got a few ideas on the revenue was sparse.
First, this newspaper did a poor job of promoting it. Simply put, if they don’t know about it, then it’s a safe bet they won’t visit.
Second, the process was very time consuming. It would take the newspaper staff hours to upload the pictures, and from I understand, the process to purchase was drawn out.
There has been a meeting set up with our Kentucky group Web master to go over the process.
From the initial e-mail, it seems that each reporter will have an account set up so they can upload, and the duties will not fall on one person.
As soon as I know more, I’ll update.

Things starting to return to normal

It’s been a week since the ice storm slammed the state, and things are starting to get back to normal around Jessamine County.
I understand that there are still a few folks without power in the county. My power came on sometime Friday night/Saturday morning. I was finally able to move back into my house Saturday where I was greeted with a big mess.
After reflecting on the events of last week, I was struck by a few things:
• I recall walking out of my house last Tuesday, Jan. 27, and just seeing ice everywhere. I just remember being stunned. I skidded out to my truck to start it around 6:30 a.m., and my neighbor was doing the same thing. He and I looked at each other, and he said, “It’s dangerous out here.” I spent the next 30 minutes trying to clear a path for me to drive out.
• I was impressed with the scope of the storm. I fully expected it to be gone by Tuesday afternoon, but the sucker hung around for days.
•  I also reached a new appreciation for those whose jobs it is to keep the electric flowing. Those folks spent countless hours out in the elements doing all they could, but to quote Nicholasville Mayor Russ Meyer, “There’s not a whole lot you can do when Mother Nature puts that much ice on you.”
I don’t have an official measurement, but I did take my ruler and measured the ice on my deck — an inch and a quarter.
I was glad to seen the 50-degree mark Super Bowl Sunday. We needed the thawing.
Today, we were hit with a small snow storm, and I found myself off Brannon Road attempting to navigate the road, all the while wishing I had a 4-wheel drive. It was a mess, and a few times I thought I was going to slide into another car, but I made it back to the office in one piece.

On a quick side note: I watched the Super Bowl, and I now firmly believe that Kurt Warner is worthy of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. To throw for 377 yards against the Steelers, a team who had given up less than 200 yards a game, was impressive. Moreover, to lead the Arizona Cardinals to the Super Bowl and make them respectable was quite an accomplishment.

On the couch again

This will be a short post, as I am a bit tired from the week’s events. I went home at 5 p.m. and was greeted by a cold house.

Have you ever heard someone say, “I work so much that I practically live in my office?” Shoot, I’ve said it, but I’m really beginning to think twice about saying it again.

I’ve been out and about much of the day, and I have seen the power crews working feverishly to repair the lines. So I know that in time, my home will have electric, and I can sleep in my bed. But in the meantime, I am grateful to have a couch and office with heat and cable. So I’ll spend Friday night much as I did the previous three nights, hunkered down in the office. Don’t forget, for those of you who have limbs and other tree-related debris, the city of Nicholasville and the Jessamine County Fiscal Court are providing a drop off spot at Virginia and Etter drives from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 31. I plan to go out there around 10 a.m. or so to shoot video and take pictures and talk to some folks.

Still in the dark

It’s now Friday morning, around 10:43. I just had my first shower since Tuesday at the county fire station. I now feel halfway human. I’m back at the office. The power around town is slowly starting to come back on. I saw two crews on the way to the fire station working on power lines. The city of Nicholasville and the Jessamine County Fiscal Court have finalized a plan to pick up debris caused by the storm. This information can be found at www.jessaminejournal.com and I’ve posted it below:

The city of Nicholasville and Jessamine County Fiscal Court are currently planning to pick up storm debris from this week’s winter storm. At this time the governments ask that all limbs be cut no longer than six feet in length and be placed at the curb lying in line with the street. Starting Saturday, Jan. 31, storm debris will be accepted at the end of Virgina Drive off of Etter Drive. Proper signage will be in place to direct you to the location. There will be a time limit on how long we will pick up so it is important to keep up to date on this evolving plan to best serve the citizens of Nicholasville. We ask that no material be taken to the Shun Pike burn pile at this time due to the inclement weather and muddy conditions at the site.

Last night was another rough one as I spent it on the office couch. The cable was out, so I went home and brought in a few DVDs, Superman Returns and National Treasure, to keep myself entertained.

It’s still plenty cold outside, and I’m holding out hope that my power will be back on by the end of the day.

Additionally, I stopped by the Nicholasville Fire Department and spoke briefly with Jessamine County Emergency Management Director John V. Carpenter. There is still no estimate on damages or what it will cost to clean up the mess. He did say the area is eligible for FEMA grants.

Also, don’t be alarmed. That strange orange ball in the sky, which appeared around 10:30 Friday morning, is called the sun. Hopefully this means that a thaw is soon on the way.

What would we do without flash drives? (Updated)

It’s been a crazy week at the Journal. The winter storm crippled much of the region, and Nicholasville also felt its wrath.
The power has been out at my house since Tuesday night. I spent Wednesday night bunked on the couch at the office and will probably have to do the same thing tonight.
E-mail is down, so I have no idea if anyone has tried to contact me.
Many of the side roads in Jessamine County are iced over, and it only gets worse at night.
To top it off, we’ve had server issues that delayed the publication of newspaper.
As I sit here, operating on about 3 or so hours of sleep, the newspaper staff is in the process of making what was suppose to be a 26-page, three section paper into a two section, 20-page edition which will hit the street sometime after 9 p.m. Thursday night.
We printed the C, or Neighbors Section on Monday before things went dark.
Yesterday, when we realized that we would not be able to print our regular edition on time, we opted to print a bare-bones 4-page section about the storm and distribute for free in different areas of the community, i.e. restaurants, Walmart, Kroger, etc.
We put it together in about three hours, and that includes doing interviews, writing copy, taking pictures and designing the product. Much credit goes to my staff on that one.
Today, we spent much of the afternoon hammering out our Jan. 29 edition.
The server problems haven’t went away, so instead of being connected with one another, we turned to our handy flash drives to transport copy and pictures from one work station to the other.
It’s been quite the adventure, and I don’t know how many times I’ve shouted out, “I’m in need of a flash drive!”
Like many others, I am looking forward to the Sunday thaw that is supposed to happen.
I am hopeful that my electric will back on soon, and I can sleep in my bed instead of the couch.
I went by my house this morning, it was probably 35 degrees inside. I could see my breath. I’m looking forward to a hot shower.
I fear that everything in my fridge and freezer will have to be tossed out.
While sleeping on the office’s couch, or trying to sleep anyway, I couldn’t help but notice the amount of cars and trucks that use the Journal’s front parking lot as a by pass to Ross Street between the hours of 10 p.m. and 8 a.m.
I don’t have an exact number because I did manage to doze off a few times.
I was also amazed at the weird noises the newspaper building makes during the night when no one else is around. I’ll admit, a few times, I asked, “Hello? Is anyone there?”

Updated information:

We finished the paper and sent it to press around 6:30 p.m. Thursday. Because the Internet was down, we had to take the pages (on my flash drive) to the Winchester Sun to print. I’m not 100 percent sure what the turnaround time will be, but I am hopeful that the paper will hit newsstands in Jessamine County around 9 p.m. tonight. Aside from the storm coverage, there’s several articles that I’m sure will attract attention. Again, Kudos to the Joural staff who all pitched in and went the extra mile to produce two high-quality issues (Wednesday night’s special storm coverage section and today’s regular paper).

I spoke to city officials after the paper went to print, and they are hopeful that the electric will be on by the end of the weekend. The storm left a big mess, and there is no quick fix. Electric crews from Kansas and tree cutting crews from Ohio are in town providing much-needed help. It’s safe to say that it’s been a long week for every Jessamine resident and everyone across the state.

Pleased with KPA results

If you read the front page of this newspaper, you’re probably aware that The Jessamine Journal picked up a second place finish in the Kentucky Press Association’s annual Excellence in Newspapers competition.
As editor, I am pleased that we continued to be among the state’s top three large weeklies. Much of the thanks goes to the editorial staff.
I first penned the following words when I arrived at the Journal in December 2005. It was my first column as editor:

“Tradition can mean many things to different people.
For those of us who are sports fans, tradition might mean the success or failure of our favorite teams.
For those of us in the business world, tradition can mean the bottom line which pads the old wallet.
For a community-based newspaper, tradition should mean its commitment to the community the paper serves.
After interviewing for the editor’s position at The Jessamine Journal in November 2005, I was immediately sold on its tradition of being the community voice of Jessamine County.
A paper should be a voice of its community, but it also should be a leader in its community.
Unlike the larger metropolitan papers, which have a broader focus, a community paper should be designed with the community in mind.”

In my three years, going on four, at this paper, we’ve finished in the top three. But winning awards isn’t what it’s all about. It’s not why we are here. Serving the community that we live in is satisfaction enough.
That, in itself, has multiple meanings.
News — whether it’s an early-morning fire, a game report on the sports page or a feature on someone who has a special talent — must be true, must be balanced, fair and accurate.
In my experience, I’ve had run ins with folks who believe a hometown newspaper should report this or shouldn’t report that.
Unfortunately, not all news is nice, neat and pretty. Sometimes bad things happen and we — your community newspaper — are required to report it in the afore-mentioned fashion of true, balanced, fair and accurate style.
Sometimes news occurs outside the border of Jessamine County that affects people in this community, and when it happens, we cover it.
I’ll be the first to admit we are a small outfit, and we depend on tips from the community. We are but a small handful of people living in a community of more than 42,000.
Sometimes our coverage draws the ire of the readers, so it’s good to have thick skin. I’ve received my fair share of phone calls, office visits and e-mails calling my IQ into question. But that’s OK. It goes with the territory.
I bring this up as a segue to a letter to the editor in today’s edition, and my response is simple:
Justifying is an inaccurate term. I merely attempted explained to the readers of this paper a basic process that many news organizations deal with day in and day out. I elected to use the e-mail as a tool in which to explain.
I feel it’s good to let folk in on some of the reasons why we do what we do. As editor, I know everyone — including those who work for me — isn’t going to agree with my decisions, and that’s OK.
For example, Journal columnist Rhonda Dragomir also touched on the subject last week saying there was no reason to run the story involving Six. I guess in her mind, I was adding salt to the wound.
The fact that Six was from Nicholasville made it newsworthy to the people in Jessamine County.
I guess she could argue that we should not have run the story about Gary T. Stone, a Jessamine County man, being charged with murder in Lexington.
Just because the news may have happened away from Jessamine County does not mean it isn’t of interest to Jessamine Countians.
Though I strongly disagree with Dragomir, I certainly respect her opinion.

It wasn’t justifying, it was explaining the process

Journal reporter Bob Flynn just handed me this letter to the editor:

To the editor,
I was surprised that you felt a need to justify your decisions regarding the news which is published in The Jessamine Journal. (Journalists cannot be selective when it comes to reporting news). However, there was no justification for printing the e-mail from a family member of William J. Six. The e-mail from the family member and your response to her were not relevant and added nothing to the content of the article.

Rebecca Richardson,
Nicholasville

Justifying is an inaccurate term. I merely explained to the readers of this paper a basic process that many news organizations deal with day in and day out. I elected to use the e-mail as a tool in which to explain.
Journal columnist Rhonda Dragomir also touched on the subject saying there was no reason to run the story involving Six. I guess in her mind, I was adding salt to the wound.
The fact that Six was from Nicholasville made it newsworthy to the people in Jessamine County.
I guess she could argue that we should not have run the story about Gary T. Stone, a Jessamine County man, being charged with murder in Lexington.
Though the news may have happened away from Jessamine County does not mean it isn’t of interest to Jessamine Countians.
Though I strongly disagree with Dragomir, I certainly respect her opinion.

News is news … we have to report it

When I arrived to work this morning, the following e-mail greeted me in my inbox:

To whom it may concern,
I am begging with all that I have that if you have any sense of a heart that you will remove the article about my husband and the theft. I’m not sure what else I can say to make you change your mind, but harming a family more than they are already hurting is really sad. It’s amazing that the media takes the pain of others and turns it into a story to sell papers. Please be better than the others, have a heart and a conscience, you never know when someone in your family will be the next news maker and you will have to deal with the same hurt and humiliation I am facing today.

This came from the wife of the Nicholasville man who was arrested in Indiana and charged with taking more than $276,000 from a church. Click here to see story: http://www.jessamineonline.com/public_html/?module=displaystory&story_id=8616&format=html

This was my response to her:

While I do feel for your plight, this is a news event involving a Nicholasville man who is facing felony charges. The Jessamine Journal is in the business of publishing news. We cannot play favorites, and with that in mind, the Journal does not plan on removing the story from its Web site, and it plans to publish follow up stories through an agreement with the Chronicle-Tribune in Marion, Ind.

As a journalist, I do realize that sometimes a story isn’t going to please everybody, but I do have duty to report news. One of the many jobs of a journalist is to seek truth and report it. I know that some stories will garner negative feedback from readers, especially those which the story directly affects.
In this case, Wednesday morning, I got wind of a Nicholasville man facing these charges via an e-mail tip. I went to the Marion, Ind.-based Chronicle-Tribune’s Web site and found the story which it had published in its Jan. 7 edition. I then called its editor, David Penticuff,  seeking permission to publish the story in the Journal, which he obliged.
Additionally, Penticuff told me the Chronicle-Tribune would be published at least two follow up stories in the coming days, and granted the Journal permission to publish them.
Being in this career field, this isn’t the first time I’ve been asked to kill or remove a story.
A big no-no in the news world is sitting on or squashing a story, no matter who it involves. Typically that isn’t a problem for a news reporter.
The hard part comes when the news story involves someone the reporter knows outside the work place.
The person who is involved in the story will sometimes try to get the reporter to bury the story, and at times the temptation is there to pretend like it didn’t happen.
But as a reporter, it is our job to report the news, not hide it.
Over the years, I’ve come across the scenario many times, and each time I’ve pulled the trigger and ranthe story. An unfortunate side affect is I’ve lost a few friends because of my occupations over the years. I guess you could call it an occupational hazard.
I had one friend who it seemed like every time he saw me he’d say something to the effect, “News is news, and sometimes news is bad. You’ve got to do your job. It’s nothing personal, but you’ve got a job to do.”
Wouldn’t you know it, this person got caught up in something newsworthy recently and of course, the sense of dread came over me as I realized a story would have to be written. The funny thing is I probably wouldn’t have known about it if someone hadn’t left me a news tip.
I followed up on the news tip and discovered it was true.
Of course my friend didn’t want the story written. He didn’t see the point of singling him out.
Apparently he’d forgotten the multitude of conversations we had over the course of many months.
Unfortunately news isn’t always peaches and cream.
Sometimes it’s hard to swallow. Believe me, sometimes it’s hard to write.
News is news. And it’s reported as such. It’s not a personal attack from me or any other reputable news reporter from any news medium.
The code of ethics that many, unfortunately not all, reporters live by prohibits news gathers from playing favorites.

Letters to Santa bring back memories

This week the Journal published its annual Santa Letters special section. We offered an opportunity for children up to the third grade to write St. Nick telling him what they want for Christmas.We broke down the different schools so one person would be in charge of typing an entire school’s worth of letters. My job was to type the Nicholasville Elementary School Santa Letters. Each year, I get a kick out of doing so. Here is a small sampling of the ones I found humorous:

Dear Santa,

All I want for Christmas this year is a toy polar bear because I have been a good girl and there is nothing to do at my house.Love, Sierra, from Ms. Ottinger’s class

Dear Santa,

All I want for Christmas this year is a puppy, cars and a fak boat. I clen my room. I am good in school.

Trevor, Mrs. Moore’s (no relation) class

There were several letters asking how Santa’s reindeer were doing. I guess the kids are doing everything in their power to get on his good side.

In order to keep it authentic, we did not edit for grammar or spelling. I believe by not doing so, it only adds to the product. After typing what seemed like 1,000 letters over the course of three days, I found myself wondering, “What the heck is a Bakugan?” and “What’s a Ben 10?”

My co-workers who have children have tried, in vain, to answer my questions, but I must confess, I’m still unclear.

Typing these Santa Letters triggered memories of my youthful days of yesteryear. I remember asking Santa for everything from a Big Wheel to Hot Wheels. I also remember asking him for a football for several years. I remember writing down football one year, and getting a basketball.

It was explained to me that Santa was a little apprehensive and that I might throw the football through the window, breaking the glass. After about three years of asking for a football, the Christmas finally arrived where under the tree was a football.

I’m pleased to report that I did not break the window with the football … it was a tennis ball, and my dog, Fred, was partially to blame. My parents didn’t seem too understanding, and they didn’t grasp the logic that my dog, whom I was throwing the tennis ball against the house with, suddenly and deliberately charged me, jumping on me, thus making my throw veer off course. They countered with the lame argument of, “How many times have we told you not to throw the ball against the house.” But that’s another column.

So I figured I’d close this column with my own letter to Santa. It’s been a while since I’ve written him, so I hope he won’t hold it against me. Anyways, here goes …

Dear Santa,

It’s me. Mike Moore. You know, the guy who left you oatmeal cookies in 1977 at Ft. Campbell, Ky.

All I want for Christmas this year is for the economy to recover so that folks won’t lose their jobs. I also want gas prices to stay down.

I also want a new stereo for my truck. I asked my sister-in-law Erin for one, but she said I needed to only ask for things she can afford. She’s a meanie. I also want season tickets to the University of Tennessee football games and for the Vols to win the national championship next year.

I have been a good boy. I help my publisher and I am not mean to the advertising folks except when they come in my office. How’s Rudolph? Does his nose really glow? Tell Comet I said hello. I will leave oatmeal cookies for you. Thanks Santa.

Your pal, Mike