May 9, 2012 — When I decided to take a job as a reporter in Carter County, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect.
As a Pike County native, I have an affinity and love for Eastern Kentucky but I didn’t really know how that would translate into life here.
Based in Olive Hill, I’ve come to find the charm and allure of small town Kentucky to be as alive and well as it was in my childhood.
People still wave when they see you and ask how you’re doing with sincerity that’s sorely lacking in most of the other places I’ve lived.
All told, I’m thrilled to be a reporter here.
Pleasantries aside, however, I take this job very seriously and with ample humility.
Truth is a precious commodity these days, and as a journalist, it falls to me to find and report the truth in everything I write without injecting myself into the telling.
Observe and report; that’s my mantra. I don’t see it as my role to form opinions for our readers, nor do I aspire to be a spin doctor or a mouthpiece for any group or individual.
Instead, my goal is to convey the facts and the reader decide what to think. I am here to serve you, the public. Not vice versa.
I hope that when you read an article I’ve written, you will come away more informed and aware of the important issues and events taking place in our neck of the woods.
More than anything, however, I’m really glad to be in Eastern Kentucky again, where the pace of life moves a little slower, home cooked food is the rule rather than the exception, and the rolling foothills of Appalachia paint a scenic tableau that I’m eager to wake up to each morning.
It’s good to be home.
(Opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Joe Lewis.)
