Farewell Hancock County

Farewell Hancock County, I am going to miss you.

For those of you who have not heard, I am resigning my position at the Hancock Clarion and moving to Minnesota to be near my sister. She is the only immediate family I have left in the world, and I want to be by my family.

I moved to Hancock County 50 years ago from Breckinridge County, and it has been my home ever since. I would not be the person I am today if not for the great people of Hancock County. I have made some wonderful friends here, and I have a church family at Lewisport United Methodist Church that I love. It is not easy to leave my home of 50 years, and I am going to miss everyone.

I am taking a job as a staff writer for a newspaper called the Lakes Area Review in New London, MN. Actually for the past two weeks I have worked remotely for them writing a few stories to help them out until I move up there.

My last day at the Clarion is today, November 4. I start my move to Minnesota on Saturday, November 6.
When I first told people of my intention to move, they asked me how long I have worked at the Clarion. When I figured it up, I have worked half of my adult life here.

I first started on a temporary basis in 1997, and right when my temporary job with the Clarion ended, the advertising representative for the paper quit. I told Publisher and Editor, Donn and Steve Wimmer, I would like the job and they gave me a shot. I worked here for two years before I moved on to other opportunities.

I was gone for about four years, and then I came back. How I started back is an interesting story. I saw Donn at Lewisport Baptist Church one Sunday in July of 2003. He asked me what I was doing, and I told him I was looking for work, and that I wanted to work for a newspaper as a writer.
Donn told me to meet him at the Clarion the next day, and he would give me contact information for the Kentucky Press Association, and a reference. Long-time Hancock Clarion reporter Sam Roberts was out on vacation, and due back on Monday.

When I arrived at the newspaper on Monday, I discovered that Sam decided he wanted to go on permanent vacation, and that he retired effective that day. I told Donn and Steve I was interested in the position. They told me they would consider it, and would call me with their decision. Later that day I received a call from Donn and wanted to know if I could start to work the next morning!

If memory serves, the first event I covered for the Clarion as the new reporter was the Hancock County Chamber of Commerce monthly breakfast meeting. My first day on the job, and I started it off with a free meal! By my count, I have covered around 200 chamber breakfast meetings since 2003!

I have covered hundreds of meetings from Hancock County Fiscal Court, Hawesville City Council, Lewisport City Council and the Hancock County Board of Education. I have covered the annual Farm/City dinner and numerous other events. I have actually enjoyed covering each of these events.
As I said, it is not easy to leave Hancock County; I will always consider it my home. I am just going to go live somewhere else.  Farewell my friends.

By Ralph Dickerson