Kentucky people, papers in the news

Filkins named publisher of Kentucky Standard

Ron Filkins has been named publisher of The Kentucky Standard in Bardstown. He has been with Landmark Community Newspapers Inc. for five years and is currently publisher of The Perry County News in Tell City, Ind. The Standard is a tri-weekly publication. The Perry County News publishes twice a week.

Before joining Landmark, Filkins was publisher of The Seguin (Texas) Gazette-Enterprise for Southern Newspapers Inc. for six years and The Moore County (Texas) News-Press for four years. Prior to that, he was news editor/editor for The Perryton (Texas) Herald for eight years.

Filkins had a B.S. degree in history and journalism from the State College of Arkansas as well as a M.A. degree in journalism from the University of Iowa.

Filkins replaces David Greer as Bardstown publisher. Greer accepted a position with KPA as its member services director and administrator of the Kentucky High School Journalism Association.

As publisher, Filkins will have responsibilities for The Standard, its cable television local origination station, PLG TV-13, Kentucky Home real estate magazine and the paper’s web site, www.kystandard.com. The combined operations, all under one roof, have a total of 33 employees.

White is new reporter at Shepherdsville paper

Bob White is now a reporter for the Pioneer News in Shepherdsville. He is a graduate of the KPA Journalism Boot Camp held last summer at Georgetown College.

The second annual boot camp will be held July 15 through Aug. 2 at Georgetown College. Jim St. Clair will again be the boot camp instructor.

Weeklies in Muhlenburg, Nicholas counties launch Internet Web sites

The Leader-News in Muhlenburg County and the The Nicholas Countian have launched Web sites. Both sites feature local news, sports, obituaries and other items of local interest. The Leader-News’ site also includes classified ads.

The Leader-News’ site can be found at www.ky-leadernews.com. The Nicholas Countian site can be found at www.nicholascountian.com.

Woods joins Morehead staff

Erin Woods, 23, of Morehead, has joined the advertising staff of The Morehead News and its sister papers in northeastern Kentucky. She is a graduate of Morehead State University.

The addition of Woods will help the papers broaden their sales market west to Lexington and east to Huntington, W. Va., according to Jack McNeely, publisher of Community Holdings of Kentucky. The group includes The Morehead News, Grayson Journal-Enquirer, Olive Hill Times, Greenup County News-Times, Menifee County News and The Carlisle Mercury.

Weekly publisher to run for Louisville council seat

John H. Harralson Jr., editor and publisher of The Voice-Tribune, a weekly in Jefferson County, is a candidate for the Republican primary for the new Metro Council District 7 seat. The primary election will be held May 28. The Metro Council was created as a result of the merged Louisville and Jefferson County governments. The consolidation takes effect in 2003.

Harralson served three terms as mayor of Brownsboro Village and was chairman of the Jefferson County League of Cities for six years. He was employed by BellSouth Telephone Co. for more than 30 years and is active in a number of political and civic organizations.

Bottom named LCNI Human Resource manager

Patty Bottom has been named human resource manager for Landmark Community Newspapers Inc., headquartered in Shelbyville. Bottom joined LCNI in 1984 as personnel assistant. She was promoted to benefits manager in 1987 and to human resource generalist in 1994.

The new job title captures more of her daily activities, Kim Hogan, LCNI HR director, said. That includes counsel with general managers, department managers and employees.

Liebman to chair Associated Industries

Phyllis Liebman, who was the first female reporter for the Frankfort State Journal, is the first chairwoman of Associated Industries of Kentucky.
AIK, with 2,800 members, represents the interests of the state’s employers before legislators and government agencies. Liebman, 56, a Frankfort
resident, previously headed up state public information offices in Kentucky and Georgia. She has also worked in media relations for IBM and Lexmark.

Two join Elizabethtown ad sales

Cindy Smith has rejoined The News-Enterprise in Elizabethtown as retail advertising team leader. She previously worked at the daily from 1989-1996 and again 1998-1999.

Sherri Rose Jaynes has joined the Elizabethtown paper as an advertising coordinator for the Communities Team.

Lawson joins Shepherdsville paper as classified rep

Don Lawson recently moved from The News-Enterprise in Elizabethtown where he worked as a graphic designer back home to the Pioneer News in Bullitt County where he interned in 1999. Lawson is a 2000 graduate of Murray State University with a major in journalism.

WKU senior honored nationally

Ryan Clark, a senior at Western Kentucky University, has been named one of the nation’s five “Most Valuable Staffers” of college newspapers. Clark, a Louisville native, was selected in a competition sponsored by the Scripps Howard Foundation and conducted by college media advisers. Clark served as editor of WKU’s College Heights Herald last fall.

He will receive a $5,000 scholarship from the Scripps Howard Foundation and the College Heights Herald will also receive $5,000. The award will be presented March 15 at the Spring National College Media Convention in New York.

Clark has served summer internships at The Cadiz Record, The Baltimore Sun and the The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Va.

Last summer, Clark was one of 10 college journalists selected for the Scripps Howard Foundation’s Top Ten Scholarship, a $10,000 award.

Cecil named layout editor in Bardstown

Holly Cecil has joined The Kentucky Standard in Bardstown as layout editor. She is a 2000 graduate of Western Kentucky University. She holds a BA in public relations and English and the allied language arts. She gained much of her layout experience as graphic designer/marketing assistant at the Capitol Arts Alliance in Bowling Green. After graduating from WKU, Cecil spent one year as a volunteer with Americorps VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) at Kennesaw State University in Georgia.

Lawson receives Schaaf Award

Gil Lawson, of the Kentucky Cabinet for Health Services, and a former Courier-Journal reporter, was selected as the third recipient of the Jennifer Schaaf Award.

The award is given annually by the Bluegrass SPJ chapter and the Kentucky Association of Government Communicators to recognize government spokespeople who act in the greater public interest.

Lawson was nominated by Tom Loftus of the Courier-Journal’s Frankfort bureau.

“I do consider Gil a friend and I worked with him for years. So I’m biased as can be,” Loftus said in his nomination. “But I think the honest, well-informed, straight-forward approach he brings to the job serves the press corps well. I also think that approach serves the Patton administration well.”

Berkshire is new Elizabethtown reporter

Forrest Berkshire is now a reporter for The News-Enterprise in Elizabethtown. He previously worked at the Roane County News in Kingston, Tenn.