It is terribly hard to believe just how much weather we received the past 10 days or so. And by weather, I mean horrible weather.

We have experienced this at our house that overshadows most of our 51 years together.

Looking back, we were in Frankfort for the winters of ’77 and ’78 when the entire state closed down. We did not; however, ever lose power and while gas supplies were in short supply, we did not lose our heat source.

In the 90s we had a major snow that stopped most everything here but again no major power loss.

In 1998-99 winter, we lived in Breckinridge County, past Fort Knox we a major ice storm crippled many southern states.

Marilyn, Amy, and Michael were trapped in the house we owned by ice and no electric, but we did have propane heating logs, which did at least allow them to stay warm. I had left to take a new job. My bride says she became an expert in Phase 10 and Skip Bo card games.

Marilyn said that when it cleared enough to go into town the first stop was the grocery store. They had about wiped out everything in the house.

We lived in the southwest and Texas for several years, but when we moved to South Carolina where Michael spent his senior year.

We had taken jobs back in Kentucky, but while we transitioned, they again were house trapped by an ice storm. In fact, Mike was with a church group which had to stop at a motel in Columbia and spend time waiting out the storm.

This year for us was a much different experience. We knew all of this was coming. Living basically in town we felt assured we would not lose electricity.

Obviously if you are here or have relatives here you are well aware that much of our area did. Our electricity was off for 85 hours.

We began our quest for fire (heat) with a wood burning stove. It was with the house when we purchased it but because of smoke we chose not to use it.

That came to an end last week, when the house dropped to 50 degrees Mike got it seasoned and built our first fire.

We had minimum firewood, so I used messenger to reach out and sure enough we got some. Ryan Biederman brought us enough to get started. We then purchased a truckload, which was wet, and then DeNeil Hartley and her husband brought us a gift of dry firewood.

We had offers of propane heaters, but Marilyn and I have always had a fear of it. We are totally grateful for all that helped.

We have an adapter in our car that we plugged into the lighter. It worked fine for the blower and chargers but when we added a lamp it blew the car fuse in my car. We also tried Marilyn’s car. Mike left his car running and it powered without the light but again Mike had a couple battery driven tiny lamps and we had some battery powered lights that we use to promote the Beacon, so we were not in the dark.

Next came the loan of a generator. It ran it all including the lamp, so it wasn’t bad at all . . . but wait. When it ran out of fuel, Mike went to start it and pull-string broke. Thus, it couldn’t start so we went back to Mike’s car and no lamp.

Mike ordered a new part, put it on, but when he went to start it, the fuel line broke, we again were running with a car battery as the car ran.

All of a sudden, the electric came back on – even though we were told it would be Monday. Showers all around with great gratitude we didn’t lose water and the appliances all worked.

The power allowed Beth and me to pull this paper together.

I want to step-back and say Mike and all the others saved us.

As I explained we will have two papers combined this week. We hope you will take the time to read them both as they contain a great deal of local news and information.

Thank you for supporting The Greenup Beacon.

And so, for another week, thanks ad thirty.

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In a time of trial, especially for them, Kentucky newspapers have come through for their readers.

This is not only extremely important for newspapers but even more important it is a vital link to communities across the Commonwealth. The news reports do not contain social media input but well thought and researched materials for consumption by general readerships.

Al Cross a long-time journalist and profession helped prepare a report showing the impact of newspapers’ involvement in keeping the public informed.

The Greenup Beacon and all of the Beacon Media Group operations provided several local and state stories concerning COVID-19 and the implications for the public. In addition, the online presence of the group had several programs with healthcare practitioners and healthcare officials with the Greenup County Health Department.

In December, as the first coronavirus vaccines were being approved, the Commonwealth of Kentucky bought advertising in most Kentucky newspapers to get Kentuckians ready for the vaccination process.

The $281,184 expense was a modest one, among billions of dollars in federal relief money that came to the state, but it was a timely boon for the newspapers. They were suffering from the double whammy of social-media competition followed by a pandemic that eroded even more of their ad revenue.

That ad order was also a recognition: that newspapers are still a good way to reach a large number of people with a broadly important message. And it could also be seen as a reward: for the newspapers’ performance in the pandemic. In perhaps the most challenging year for newspapers in their history, the community papers of Kentucky came through for Kentuckians.

They published special editions devoted to the pandemic. They told the stories of people affected and anguished by it. They published tributes to front-line local heroes. They served as trusted sources of information about a subject that became scientifically confusing and politically contentious. They helped readers separate fact from fiction, and they held public officials accountable.

Despite their financial squeeze, the newspapers took down paywalls, gave discounts to seniors and businesses, and kept sending papers to people who couldn’t pay their subscription bill, said Jeff Jobe, outgoing president of the Kentucky Press Association and publisher of seven weeklies in Southern Kentucky. His papers also made their body type larger to help seniors spending more time at home.

This report is based on responses to a request for comments and documentation from KPA members, a random examination of Kentucky newspapers at the University of Kentucky library, and continuing research of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues.

The pandemic has been a tough experience, said Alan Gibson, publisher and co-owner of the Clinton County News in Albany: “We have never gone through anything like this. With so many of our local businesses closing, either temporarily or permanently, our advertising base has dropped drastically.  If they aren’t open for business, they have to need to advertise what they are offering for sale. I’ve said many times through this pandemic that I have more to report and more to write about now than ever before, and fewer pages to put it in that ever.”

Even before Clinton became one of the counties with the highest infection rates, Gibson made a “COVID-19” box a standard feature of his front page, and published transcripts of weekly news-media briefings by the Lake Cumberland District Health Department, dropping the gatekeeper role and letting readers see exactly how officials responded to questions.

That was often more revealing than Gov. Andy Beshear’s near-daily press conferences. On Oct. 21, officials said, “The lockdown was abandoned, not because it wasn’t good at controlling the spread of disease, but because society couldn’t live with that level of restrictions. . . . We would recommend that, since there is no way the health department can possibly police every business and every citizen, that everyone not patronize businesses that do not follow the mask mandate.”

Some saw it as a chance to prove the worth of their work at a time of existential challenge. Russ Cassady, regional editor of Pikeville-based Appalachian Newspapers, said the attitude of his staff has been, “If we can work through this, we can keep newspapers going through at least a few more generations.”

Cassady said in an email, “Early on in the pandemic, we decided . . . that we needed to be at the forefront of coverage on this issue, particularly in terms of local response and impact.”

That was the attitude Cynthiana Democrat Editor Becky Barnes had when Kentucky’s first case of the virus was reported in a person from her home Harrison County. She rode with the county judge-executive and the mayor of Cynthiana to Frankfort for a press conference with Beshear, and before they got back they had decided that the newspaper would publish a pandemic extra two days later, and the city and county would pay for it.

"Not everyone, especially in a rural county like Harrison County, has internet connection; not everybody is on Facebook; not everybody listens to the local radio," and some watch TV stations based in Cincinnati, not Lexington, Mayor James Smith said. "Some people in the county didn't even know we had a case in the county."

The Carlisle Mercury did a sample-copy edition for adjoining Nicholas County, and The Woodford Sun made one of its regularly scheduled editions a pandemic edition, paid for by the county, Versailles and Midway with relief funds.

Newspapers can reach everyone in their home counties quickly because postal regulations allow them mail up to 10 percent of their annual circulation in their home county to non-subscribers at subscriber rates.

Sometimes, even a regular edition looked like a pandemic edition. On Nov. 10, the front-page headlines in the Lewis County Herald were “Voters turn out for pandemic election,” “Lewis at 386 cases of Covid-19, 76 active,” “COVID-19 restricts courthouse access,” “Lewis in red zone for second week,” and “Schools remain on virtual learning for now.”

It has been a difficult time for everyone in all sectors, but newspaper will continue to be the standard-bearer for comprehensive news.

Thank you for your attention.

And so, for another week, thanks and thirty.