[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 136 (Wednesday, September 14, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5618-S5619]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     RECOGNIZING THE HAZARD HERALD

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I rise today to recognize one of 
Kentucky's oldest and most respected local newspapers, the Hazard 
Herald of Hazard, KY. In July of this year, The Hazard Herald 
celebrated over a century's worth of news coverage by publishing a 
100th-anniversary edition of its morning paper. The Herald is, and has 
been, the most trusted source of local and national news to the people 
of Hazard and Perry County for decades.
  Founder and prominent lawyer and statesman Bailey P. Wootton, who 
eventually served one term as Kentucky attorney general in the 1930s, 
envisioned that the Herald would serve as the primary medium for 
progress and information for the local community when he began 
publishing the paper in 1911. Over the years, the Herald became the 
heart of the community, sharing in both the triumphs and sorrows of 
citizens of the county as it grew alongside them.
  From the arrival of the first train to Hazard Depot in 1912, which a 
year later would pave the way for boosting the region's coal industry, 
to the decade-defining flood of 1927 that devastated the county, the 
Herald was front and center. In the 1930s the Herald followed Bailey 
during his campaign to be elected Kentucky attorney general, as well as 
the Hazard High School boys' basketball team as they were eventually 
crowned state champions.
  World War II in the 1940s forced the Herald to begin printing daily 
to keep people informed with the war efforts in Europe, and it remained 
so until the mid-1950s when it then alternated to a biweekly 
publication. The paper mourned President Kennedy's death with the 
nation in the 1960s, and provided an in-depth account of President Bill 
Clinton's visit to Hazard in 1999--which was printed in color after the 
paper adopted color printing technology in the middle of the decade. 
Most recently, the Herald has adopted online publications and social 
media to keep pace with the technological advancements that define news 
and media today.
  Perry County is fortunate to have such an established and trusted 
news source to inform the great people of Kentucky. In the 100th 
anniversary edition of the Herald, printed July 27, 2011, there is an 
article that highlights the paper's founding and first decade of 
printing. To help celebrate this landmark occasion, Mr. President, I 
ask unanimous consent that the full article be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

      [From the Hazard Herald, Centennial Edition, July 27, 2011]

       The first decade 1911-1919: The Hazard Herald publishes 
     first issue, begins a tradition still alive a century later.
       The first edition of The Hazard Herald was hand set and 
     came off the gasoline powered

[[Page S5619]]

     printing press on June 22, 1911. Though we can't find a copy 
     of that first edition, the effect the Herald had on the local 
     community during its first decade is certainly on record.
       The Herald was operated by its founder and president at the 
     time, Bailey P. Wootton, along with officers George W. 
     Humphries, James B. Hoge, and W.C. Trosper.
       During that first year, a one-year subscription to the 
     Herald could be purchased for one dollar as the paper's staff 
     covered the growth of Hazard, which at the time was still 
     looking forward to the coming of the railroad a year later, a 
     move that would open up a town that in the years prior was a 
     remote hamlet nearly cut off by the rough and tumble 
     foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.
       The first two years of the Herald's publication were 
     certainly not easy ones, as noted in Perry County Kentucky: A 
     History, published by the Hazard Chapter of the Daughters of 
     the American Revolution during the 1950s. A publisher in 
     Hazard at that time certainly lacked some of the modern 
     conveniences that newspaper staff today may take for granted: 
     ``With power still not available in 1911, a two H.P. gasoline 
     engine was installed to run the press. After 1912, 
     electricity was available and the changeover was made.''
       In those first years the Herald also served as a chronicler 
     of Hazard's history (as it still does today). One of the most 
     important events in that history was the arrival of the 
     railroad. In the July 20, 1911 edition, the paper's fifth 
     that first year, a story details work being completed by the 
     Jones-Davis Company regarding construction of a section of 
     the L&E Railroad which extended ``from below Yerkes to the 
     head of the river of the mouth of Buckeye Creek, about 18 
     miles.''
       The first train arrived at the Hazard Depot in 1912, and it 
     not only opened avenues of travel in and out of the county, 
     but it also paved the way for a more robust coal industry, as 
     noted in the Herald's October 7, 1912 edition: ``It will not 
     be long before the coal from this city will be counted by the 
     trainloads instead of the carload.''
       Other notable events during the decade include a fire in 
     December 1913 that ravaged the business section of town, 
     destroying $50,000 worth of property, according to a headline 
     of the day. Consumed in the fire was the D.Y. Combs Hotel as 
     well as the offices of Dr. Gross and Dr. Hurst.
       On August 17, 1914, the Herald reported on the first 
     automobile to arrive in Perry County: ``Last Thursday, Hazard 
     and Perry County (sic) were honored by the first automobile 
     ever inside the county limits. We have had the railroad 
     trains upward of two years, and that has ceased to be a 
     wonder; we have had one autocycle, which remained for a few 
     days and departed from whence it came. But the crowning glory 
     of all was the advent of the Ford touring car which passed 
     through our city last Thursday. Now we are on the qui vive 
     for the first aeroplane.''
       By 1916, Wootton was still listed as the president, with 
     James B. Hoge and W.C. Trosper as secretary and manager 
     respectively, and a weekly editorial appeared in the 
     newspaper as well. In the January 27, 1916 edition, the 
     Herald took to task the City of Hazard for allowing the 
     city's sidewalks to fall in disrepair, writing: ``In any 
     case, there has been no excuse on the part of either Big 
     Bottom residents or the City government for leaving the walks 
     up that way in the shape it has been for such a long time.''
       While the Herald maintained a local flavor during its first 
     decade, in this age before the Internet and instant news 
     delivery, the paper also made note of issues of national 
     importance. By 1918, World War I ended with the abdication of 
     Kaiser Wilhelm II on November 9. The Herald carried the story 
     with the headline: ``War Is Ended; Kaiser Abdicates.''
       By the end of the decade, the paper's yearly subscription 
     rate had increased to $1.50 while Bailey Wootton remained the 
     president of the Herald Publishing Company, and John B. 
     Horton had been serving as the editor.

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