[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 150 (Friday, November 2, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1981]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO MR. AL SMITH

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. ED WHITFIELD

                              of kentucky

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, November 1, 2001

  Mr. WHITFIELD. Mr. Speaker, I rise in recognition of the 
contributions to Kentucky Journalism one of the great citizens and most 
notable journalists of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Mr. Al Smith.
  Al Smith has been a major player in Kentucky Journalism since 1958 
when he arrived in our Commonwealth after having covered New Orleans 
government. His first position was editor of the Russellville News-
Democrat in Logan County. He learned about grassroots politics by 
spending time with the wing of the Kentucky Democratic Party headed by 
Logan Countian Emerson `Doc' Beauchamp, who was the political enemy of 
Governor A.B. Chandler.
  In 1968 Smith and some partners started their own newspaper, the 
Logan Leader, in competition with the News-Democrat. In a few weeks 
they owned both papers and began biweekly publishing. Then came the 
purchase of newspapers in Morgantown, Cadiz, and Leitchfield as part of 
Al Smith Communications.
  Smith served as chairman of the Kentucky Oral History Commission and 
the Kentucky Arts Commission. He also became moderator of Kentucky 
Educational Television's ``Comment on Kentucky'' which he still heads 
27 years later.
  Mr. Speaker, Al Smith had grown up an admirer of the Tennessee Valley 
Authority and actively sought a seat on its board. Instead, he was 
named federal co-chairman of the Appalachian Regional Commission by 
President Jimmy Carter. He also served in that capacity temporarily 
under President Ronald Reagan.
  Upon his return to Kentucky, he purchased the Sentinel Echo in London 
and moved there. After the sale of Al Smith Communications to Park 
Newspapers in the mid-80's, he and his wife Martha Helen moved to 
Lexington where he produced and was host of the statewide radio talk 
show AOK Primeline. He continues to live in Lexington and one of his 
home towns, Sarasota, Florida.
  Al Smith has been honored by several groups, awarded an honorary 
doctorate by Cumberland College, and named to the Kentucky Journalism 
Hall of Fame.
  Mr. Speaker, on Thursday, November 1, 2001 Logan County will honor 
Kentucky's most notable journalists featuring Al Smith and those he has 
been a mentor to including The Courier Journal's Al Cross who is now 
national president of the Society of Professional Journalists; Larry 
Craig, President of the Kentucky Press Association and a Hall of Fame 
journalist; his daughter Catherine Hancock, who became a reporter for 
the Tennessean before going to law school; and News-Democrat & Leader 
Editor Jim Turner, who has won over 62 awards in the journalism 
profession.

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