Hoosier State Press Association - The Indiana Publisher - Better Newspaper Contest
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/96748
Division 1 Best General Commentary/Category 4 First place Amanda Matlock, The Times-Post (Pendleton) Comments: Amanda Matlock is a great storyteller. Her column is interesting and fun to read. She draws the reader in with rich use of detail. Second place Robert Banser, The News & Sun (Dunkirk) Comments: Robert Banser���s column captures the vibrancy of his community. His work is well-written and easy to read, and he demonstrates the ability to be extremely funny. Third place Kathy Tretter, Ferdinand News Comments: Kathy Tretter���s writing is pithy, funny and full of detail. She comes across as being very real and is easy to identify with because of that. Best Editorial Writer/Category 5 First place Tim Ashley, The Mail-Journal (Milford) Comments: This entry���s topics are the kind that make readers sit up and think a little more about their community. Congratulations! Second place Debbie Blank, The Herald-Tribune (Batesville) Comments: This entry reaches readers where they live. Nice job! Third place Amanda Matlock, The Times-Post (Pendleton) Comments: This entry shows considerable versatility. Way to go! Best Business/Economic News Coverage/ Category 6 First place The fall of Integra Bank Dean Bolin, Spencer County Leader (Dale) Comments: None given. Second place Greener pastures Lisa W. Hoppenjans, Spencer County Leader (Dale) Comments: None given. Third place Meyer Sweet Treats offers a little bite of heaven Cheryl Y. Hurst, Ferdinand News Comments: A really fun read with good language. I was getting hungry reading it. Weekend warrior: Zumba Amanda Matlock The Times-Post (Pendleton) I have a feeling that the more you read this article, the more you���re going to wish there were photos to accompany this week���s weekend warrior column. To make a long story short, this Saturday I went to my first Zumba class. Let me start by saying, I needed to get out of the house Saturday morning. The night before, I came home to a kicked in back door. That���s right, my house was broken into. In an attempt to take my mind off my violated private space, Annika, my best friend from high school, talked me into trying Zumba with her and her mother Cathy. I wasn���t too happy about waking up early or pulling out my dusty sneakers, but after turning 28 earlier this month, I noticed that Betty Spaghetti Monster, the name of my everpresent belly, needs to go. For those of you who haven���t heard, Zumba is a Latininspired dance fitness class. It���s also really addictive. And really hard. Just so we���re clear ��� this was the first time I have honestly worked out since I got married three and a half years ago. A nice person would say I���m too busy to find the time to head to a gym; a mean person would say I avoid it like the plague. Annika and I were stretching as the energetic instructor started showing the class basic Latin dance steps that would be used in class. As a former college dancer, I stupidly thought, ���I got this.��� I did not have that. When the music started I thought, ���this is going to be fun.��� Then the music got fast. Two songs and 10 minutes into the hourlong class, I thought I was going to die. All along the room were these wide mirrors. As I watched my uncoordinated body flop around, I couldn���t help but laugh. I laughed when I tried to spin around in a circle, went the wrong way and hit my best friend in the face with my flapping arms. I laughed when my legs started screaming, ���We don���t like this. Please stop. If you don���t stop we���re going to stop working.��� Then my legs stopped working, and I tripped and fell over. I laughed when my hips, which were supposed to look like sexy J-Lo dance moves, looked more like the tin man right after he was oiled. That hour was honestly the most ungraceful I have ever looked in the entirety of my life. Yes, I collapsed after the music turned off. Yes, my legs still ache two days later. Yes, I looked a fool. But you know what? I can���t wait to go back! I forgot how good it feels to move your body and get your blood pumping. For complete story, see www.hspafoundation.org. Click on ���Contests.��� Let the public decide Tim Ashley The Mail-Journal (Milford) January is nearing its end and in just a few weeks high school basketball sectional tournaments for girls and boys will begin across Indiana. This is the time of the year when teams want to be peaking and playing their best basketball to be sharp for tournament time. Some of our readers may have been following legislation introduced be State Sen. Mike Delph, (R-Carmel), that would have meant returning to a single-class high school basketball tournament if it had passed. But Delph agreed to drop the legislation last week knowing the Indiana High School Athletic Association will seek public input on the issue. Bobby Cox, IHSAA commissioner, said it is likely he will travel around the state and hold something similar to town hall meetings. Public input will be sought on whether or not people favor returning to a single class format for the state basketball tournament. In the 1990s, Indiana adopted the four class format for the high school basketball state tournament. Nearly every state in America utilizes the class format for high school basketball state playoffs. debating on the Indiana General Assembly floor. It was, frankly, a bit puzzling to hear of this legislation in the first place. While we don���t doubt Mr. Delph and those who support single class basketball are sincere, there are many other priorities that should be high on the agenda for state lawmakers to consider. Among those are the economy, finding ways to attract more jobs to the state, right to work and public education. Clearly, high school basketball has a long and storied history in the Hoosier It���s fitting the IHSAA will For complete story, see seek public input. Let the public www.hspafoundation.org. decide and not lawmakers Click on ���Contests.��� The fall of Integra Bank Dean Bolin Spencer County Leader (Dale) It happened in a matter of minutes. On Friday, July 29, just before the normal 6 p.m. closing time, the Evansville Corporate Office of Integra Bank National Association was surrounded by members of Evansville City Police. Moments later, representatives of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) entered the bank. Many people watching the evening news witnessed the execution of the process of closing Integra Bank. It was swift, abrupt and heartwrenching. No one entering the bank said a word to anyone ��� each carrying or toting bags and Page 14 luggage, presumably to collect the necessary data from the failed bank. As Integra employees waited in the building���s basement, the FDIC obtained and secured the bank���s financial records. Integra Bank was no more. Technically, the FDIC was named the receiver of the former bank���s assets, including the deposits of Integra customers and the bank���s 52 branches. The federal agency then made arrangements with Old National Bank to assume the deposits and other assets. The takeover of a financial institution is designed to be swift in order to protect customer assets and to provide a transition from the failed banking institution to the bank assuming the assets. Immediately after the takeover, FDIC ombudsman Gerald Billings was explaining to the media and the public what had just occurred. Billings assured customers that their deposits were protected. This assurance was reiterated later in the evening when Old National Bank CEO Bob Jones began talking to the media. On Saturday morning, the 52 branches opened with the same staff ��� but a new name ��� Old National Bank. This could be seen in Spencer County at the Chrisney, Dale, Hatfield and Rockport banking centers as well as the two Dubois County branches in Huntingburg. As the weekend progressed, For complete story, see www.hspafoundation.org. Click on ���Contests.���