Hoosier State Press Association - The Indiana Publisher - Better Newspaper Contest
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/96748
Division 4 Best General Commentary/Category 4 First place Scott Underwood, The Herald Bulletin (Anderson) Comments: Excellent writing voice and strong topics keep readers engaged. Good points often made with pithy sentences and enjoyable descriptions. I just wanted to read more. Second place Grace Housholder, The News-Sun (Kendallville) Comments: Great concern and care for the reader is evident in her columns. It compels people to read what she has to say, and she brings the reader into her life without being overbearing about it. Third place Kelly Hawes, Pharos-Tribune (Logansport) Comments: Not afraid to tackle tough subjects and provoke new thoughts. I���m glad there were three places to award and not two. Best Editorial Writer/Category 5 First place Scott Miley, The Herald Bulletin (Anderson) Strong, difficult-to-tackle subjects done with a clear voice. Editorials get to the point right away. All editorials were enlightening and punchy. The first paragraph of ���OckomonSpencer��� was especially remarkable. It prompted great interest in a subject that otherwise might turn a reader away. Second place Harry McCawley, The Republic (Columbus) Comments: Calling for township reforms was gutsy. Editorials are a smooth read and convincing. Third place Roger Schneider, The Goshen News Comments: Poignant editorials are hard to do, yet Roger pens them well. Good voice. Best Business/Economic News Coverage/ Category 6 First place Living in a bad economy Claire Moorman, Alexandra Sondeen & Kasey Husk, The Herald (Jasper) Comments: Strong ledes in all three stories. Great mix of data and personal tales. Wonderful job of putting a face to the recession. Second place Critical conditions Kirk Johannesen, The Republic (Columbus) Comments: Strong story. Great job showing effects of drought. Catchy headline and excellent research and analysis. Side bars are well-organized and easy to read. Third place Need for nurses Kirk Johannesen, The Republic (Columbus) Comments: Well-researched; great mix of data and personal insight from those in the field. Lede could be a bit stronger. Judgment day Scott Underwood The Herald Bulletin (Anderson) hogs and would have very little to do with them until we went to the fair. Visiting the Madison County Fair last week, particularly the livestock shows, brought memories flooding back from my own days as a 4-H���er at the Wabash County Fair. Most of the memories are very good. A few not so much. But I had an inexplicable knack for creeping around the show arena with the tip of my whip held high as I paraded my hog in front of the judge. So, in that ���78 showmanship contest, the judge selected me as one of the five best showmen (out of about 30 competitors). One particular 4-H fair experience illustrates the quandary of my life as a farm kid. While I loved the outdoors and taking care of the show calves, I really wasn���t interested in the business end of farming. This would be my undoing during the 1978 swine showmanship competition when I was 13. First, the back story. I did the lion���s share of the chores for the Underwood family���s show calves, while my brothers took care of the show hogs. So I would get the last pick of the The other 4-H���ers, parents and hog farmers who packed the arena watched with interest as the five finalists drove their hogs into the small pens at the end of the arena. Mine went right into his pen with no objections. Then the judge, a pudgy man wearing a seed-company cap and a silver hog for a belt buckle, strolled down the row of pens to chat with each of the showmen, three of them girls younger than me, one an older boy. The judge approached my pen and shook my hand. He asked me the name of my hog, and I made one up on the spot. Clovis, I think. Then he asked, ���Son, what would be a goodsize loin eye for your hog?��� I didn���t know a loin eye from a loin cloth, so I thought fast and made up an answer. ���Twenty-seven inches would be pretty good,��� I said, then added with false confidence, ���for this particular hog.��� The judge pursed his lips and nodded, then moved on to chat with the last showman. After that, he strolled to the center of the ring and took the microphone from the fair queen. The place fell silent; even the hogs stopped rooting and grunting in their pens. ���Well, folks,��� the judge began, his voice booming over For complete story, see www.hspafoundation.org Click on ���Contests.��� Food tax fight leaves bad taste Scott Miley The Herald Bulletin (Anderson) State Rep. Jack Lutz, R-Anderson, recently proposed legislation that was a recipe for disaster. His House Bill 1079 would have changed the distribution formula of Madison County���s food and beverage tax. That 1 percent sales tax is paid by patrons visiting local restaurants and taverns. Currently, the 1 percent is split with 70 percent going to the city of Anderson and 30 percent to the county. For 2010, $765,215 was given out; it is only distributed every other year. Lutz proposed shifting to a 50-50 distribution. His reasoning: A larger percentage of county residents live outside Anderson city limits so shouldn���t the formula reflect the population numbers. But obviously, the city was going to lose 20 percent or about $327,000. Minutes before the bill was to be heard by the House���s Ways and Means committee in the Statehouse, elected officials from the city of Anderson and Madison County argued about the proposal. Depending on who is being quoted, the fracas involved different levels of contentious talk. Those involved included Republican County Council members Rick Gardner and David McCartney and new council member Mike Gaskill. The three reportedly ���debated��� with Republican Anderson Mayor Kevin Smith and two Democratic lawmakers from Anderson, Rep. Terri Austin and Sen. Tim Lanane. After the spirited and quite observable debate, Lutz said he would pull the bill from the session. ���I don���t want to have a food fight in front of the committee or on the floor of the House.��� That���s a tasty quote. But it was Lutz who brought the ammunition. He introduced a bill without getting proper consensus from city and county. Madison County has had a food and beverage tax since 1987. It���s one of 24 governmental units, mostly counties, with such a tax that is mostly earmarked for economic development projects. In Madison County, the tax was intended to raise money for a hotel and convention center in Anderson. When plans for that fell through, the formula was changed so that 40 percent would pay off the debt for building a juvenile detention center, with 40 percent going to the city and 20 percent to the remaining communities in Madison County. In 2010, the distribution changed to 70-30. For complete story, see www.hspafoundation.org Click on ���Contests.��� Living in a bad economy Claire Moorman The Herald (Jasper) Annie Fleck squeaks when she walks. That���s what her friends tell her, poking fun at her for pinching pennies. But there���s a good reason for the 19-year-old Northeast Dubois High School graduate to keep her wallet shut. She���s carrying the weight of two and a half years��� worth of tuition costs at Vincennes University Jasper Campus all on her own. By the end of her college career, Annie will have racked up about $10,000 in tuition and college fees. On top of that, she recently had to replace her old car ��� on its last leg after driving more than 200,000 miles ��� with a used Ford Escape, an $8,000 purchase she made with a loan from her mother. She is paying for both school and the car with student loans and several jobs that push her summer workdays to more than 50 hours per week. Last school year, her first at VUJC, a typical week for Annie was packed with responsibilities. Mondays, she worked all day at Knies Sawmill in Bretzville with her uncle Andy Hassfurther and attended classes in the evenings. Tuesdays, she worked mornings at the sawmill and then changed uniforms to head to her job in the meat department at Holiday Foods in Jasper in the afternoons. Wednesdays and Thursdays, she attended school in the mornings and worked in the evenings, and she finished the week with a full day at the sawmill on Fridays. ���I was constantly going and doing something,��� Annie said. Add together her 23 hours per week at Knies Sawmill and about 12 hours per week at Holiday Foods and she was consistently working 35 hours weekly, all while taking enough credits at college to register as a full-time student. Annie crammed homework For complete story, see www.hspafoundation.org Click on ���Contests.��� Page 41