I once found myself getting a close up photo of Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt as he interacted with SoBoCo kindergarten students while announcing his education budget to the media.
One of the governor’s assistants I met that day chided me a bit, asking: “I guess this is pretty much the biggest story of the month for the Journal – the governor coming to town?”
I replied that it would likely be the only time Gov. Blunt would make it onto the front page of the Journal. “On the other hand,” I told him, “these kids make it into the Journal all the time. I only put the governor in the Journal if he actually comes to town – or is going to jail.”
The funny part came when Gov. Blunt, who had overheard me, noted to the press aide, “Let’s make sure we come back to Ashland – and don’t go to jail.”
That one-liner got some yucks from the media horde and the governors entourage alike. A good time was had by all.
Fast-forward to 2018. The governor of the Show-Me State is in the Journal….and he has not been to Ashland recently.
Some of the hardest decisions editors make are what news should be covered. I nearly always answer that question by asking myself, “What’s going on in Southern Boone?”
However, the mess at the governor’s office, a special session and some of those details are in today’s Journal – and will be followed through Gov. Greitens’ trial.
No, it’s not fun stuff like the Quiz Bowl team or the Ashland Garden Club sale. It’s not important local news like building a new sewer plant or changing speed limits on north Henry Clay.
But critical changes and happenings at our highest levels of state government and how our elected representatives are reacting to those circumstances are important to every reader of this newspaper, or any other, as those changes will impact us all.
That’s it. I realize we are spinning off a bit from our normal “only local” news and I thought you, the reader, deserved an explanation as to why.
As always, I’m open to hearing what you think.
Call me at 657-2334 or email me at: bruce@bocojo.com.
Bruce Wallace
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