By Joetta Buckler
University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications
December 2004
After having at least two newspapers for most of its history, Bourbon County now
has only one, the Bourbon County Citizen.
The Bourbon Times gave another voice and perspective on preservation and
growth in the county, until January of this year, when it closed.
Each paper had its own view of what was good for the county and held opposite
opinions on what that good was. The two papers often had a clash of ideas and waged a
war of words in their papers.
The Citizen was business-oriented and represented growth, while the Times
represented preservation. The Times wanted to get its ideas across to the people of
Bourbon County. Until the end, its owners seemed not to care if it made any money.
Newspaper history
Paul Brannon was publisher of the Kentuckian-Citizen in 1946 until his death in
1965, when his sons Larry and Jim became publishers. Larry bought Jim out and
combined the Kentuckian-Citizen with a free publication, The Citizen-Advertiser.
Larry Brannon founded the weekly Citizen in 1984 to carry local and state news,
after the closure of the Paris Daily Enterprise. Upon Brannon’s death in 1991, his
widow, Genevieve, became publisher, and the Brannon children helped run the Citizen.
With three generations of Brannons having run the local paper and depending on
it for their livelihood, the community has accepted them as their own. Letters to the editor
are included in each issue along with a Bourbon County Scrapbook photograph.
However, noticeably lacking on the opinion page is a local editorial, which the competing
paper had.
The Times started as a free weekly newspaper in July 1988. David Dick, a former
CBS News correspondent and director of the School of Journalism and
Telecommunications at the University of Kentucky, was the publisher until 1990.
Dick and 17 landowners in Bourbon County wanted to save the county from
becoming a bedroom community for Lexington. Their mission was to keep Bourbon
County rural and preserve the beautiful bluegrass fields and horse country. One of their
concerns was the proposal to widen Paris Pike (Lexington Road to those in Paris). The
owners of the Times said the old road was historic, beautiful and should not be destroyed.
White board fences or hand laid stone walls ran virtually the full 12 miles down the road
from Paris to Lexington.
The two most active owners of the Times were Seth Hancock, owner of Claiborne
Farm and Buckner Hinkle, owner of Hinkle Contracting in Paris.
After Dick left the Bourbon Times in 1990, Doug Miller became the publisher in
September 1991 until it closed in January 2004. Miller included a local editorial in every
paper. “The message of the Bourbon Times was to keep Bourbon County beautiful and
an agricultural community, not a bedroom community for Lexington,” said Miller.
The road
Since 1961 a new road from Paris to Lexington was planned. A proposal was
submitted in 1966 but was held up by court injunctions for some 14 years by the wealthy
landowners and people against change. Meanwhile, the county lagged behind some of its
neighbors in growth. The Scott and Clark County census more than doubled between
1970 and 2000.
Most recent times when there were two newspapers in Paris, a continuous flow of
articles about the widening of the Lexington Road often appeared on the front page.
“Paris is the only large community near Fayette County that does not have four
lanes going into Lexington,” the Times reported in July 1989. The story gave a history of
the Lexington Road controversy and quoted four Kentucky state officials or employees.
Both points of view on the widening were represented in this story, which was pegged to
a planned visit by Gov. Wallace Wilkinson that was postponed.
The same week, the Citizen reported, “Gov. Wilkinson made one of the more
unequivocal pledges to build the four-lane road from Paris to Lexington during a
campaign stop in Paris just before the 1987 gubernatorial election. Wilkinson said in a
visit to the Bourbon County Courthouse that he would build the road, that it would be a
four lane road and that it would be built in his term.”
The Times didn’t have the governor’s promise in its article, but did when it
reported Aug. 30 on the rescheduling of Wilkinson’s visit: “Whether the governor will
remain true to his campaign promise to retain the integrity of the existing roadway is a
question that haunts environmentalists who want to keep the road much as it is, and those
who favor a four-lane highway.”
The Citizen used this opportunity to highlight the support of Paris Mayor Doug
Castle and officials from 10 surrounding counties for the widening of Lexington Road. A
side story encouraged attendance at the Bourbon County Courthouse, where the governor
would speak that evening. Comments from these leaders and businessmen supported
growth for Paris and outlying areas.
Wilkinson announced that he would widen the controversial Lexington Road to
four lanes using the existing corridor. “The governor said he would do ‘everything
possible’ to preserve the road’s historic and scenic value,” the Times said. The lifting of
the 1979 injunction would allow the work to begin in four-laning the corridor.
The news was so important that the Times broke the story in the Bluegrass Times,
a locally circulated newspaper that appears to have been its shopper publication. It is
reasonable to assume the Advertiser did likewise for the Citizen. There are no archives
for the shoppers. The Times reprinted The Bluegrass Times story on Sept. 6.
The Citizen chose to put the news in a skeptical editorial on page two, the opinion
page, of its Sept. 7 issue. The headline read, “On Lexington Road Four-Laning, Awaiting
Action.”
The article said, “What hangs in the balance is the question of whether this
Administration and this Governor will be known as an Administration and a Governor of
action or merely as an echo of what has been said here for the last twenty years.” The
Citizen advocated the project but did not give any cost of the road or its history. Their
editorial came across as “I will believe it when I see it.” Not much faith was put in the
governor’s announcement after years of promises and delays.
Different approaches
The Citizen didn’t report about using the existing corridor for this project. The
paper didn’t always include complete details in its stories. It assumed readers knew all
about the situation and didn’t bother filling in the background. This made stories shorter
and less clear. The Citizen often didn’t print the side of the preservationists, but instead
promoted the growth of Bourbon County.
While the Times reported more comprehensive, unbiased stories it also gave both
sides of the issue. It kept opinions out of the news stories and put them on the editorial
page. It gave enough information for a reader could pick up a paper and follow stories on
any day. When the Times reported a story, the reader usually got the big picture, not just
a portion of it.
On Feb. 13, 1991, the papers reported on a Bourbon County Chamber of
Commerce dinner at which Charles Siemons, a Lexington Road consultant from Chicago,
both praised and criticized Bourbon County.
“Image is everything,” the Times quoted Siemons as saying. “My first image of
this community driving in from Lexington, is the red Pizza Hut roof. Others will see the
same thing and think Paris is no different than any other town with strips of fast food
restaurants.”
The Citizen didn’t mention Pizza Hut and quoted Siemons as saying Paris was “a
diamond in the rough . . . the closest thing to an ideal city.” The Citizen reported about
the need for better housing, economic development, new jobs and industry.
“Siemons offered little insight into what the substance of the ‘Master Plan’
should be and did not identify what ‘bold stroke’ would get the Bourbon County
economy back on track,” The Citizen reported.
The population of Bourbon, Bath and Nicholas counties has remained stagnant for
over 30 years, while the other surrounding counties, Clark, Fayette, Harrison,
Montgomery and Scott, have increased substantially. Bourbon, Bath and Nicholas do not
have Interstate highways, which bring trade and tourism to areas. Industry has been
hesitant to locate in underdeveloped counties. Without good roads and industry the
population is likely to remain stagnant.
Troubled Times
While Bourbon County struggled with the challenge of remaining rural and
beautiful or industrialized and populated, the Times was dealing with its own problems.
“The hardest thing about publishing the Times was the competitive situation with
the Citizen-Advertiser,” Miller said. “Over the years investors pulled out as
shareholders.” At the end, there were only three owners: Claiborne Farm, Hinkle
Contracting and Miller.
Miller declined to reveal what percentage he owned, saying it was confidential
information. He had been the publisher of the Madisonville Messenger, a daily paper in
Western Kentucky, and had worked 10 years for the Kingsport Times-News in
Tennessee.
“It was always difficult to operate in the black in a competitive newspaper
market,” Miller said. The fact that the Bourbon Times was mailed to every home in the
market helped with selling advertisements, and horse farms and other agricultural
interests advertised everything from topsoil, real estate, farm equipment, furniture, cars,
and food in the paper.
Advertising revenue allowed the Times to pursue its main goal, which was to
keep Bourbon County rural and untouched.
The widening of Lexington Road was approved for construction in 1997, and
completed and officially opened in December 2003. Every effort was made to save the
mature trees, and the rock fences were moved and rebuilt. The widening of Paris Pike to
a four-lane highway cost $93 million, which is about double Wilkinson’s estimate.
Now that the road is open, “One of the greatest challenges for the Bourbon
County zoning board is to balance the potential benefits of the new Paris Pike and
preservation of the community’s history,” said reporter Paul Gibson of the Bourbon
Citizen. He worked for the Times until it closed.
The zoning requirements are very strict and are designed to keep Bourbon County
an agricultural community, horse country and rural, said Miller.
Maybe the best paper didn’t win
With the demise of the Times, the news coverage on zoning and planning issues,
and how the officials deal with them is left to the Citizen. Gibson said both papers did a
good job reporting, but had different styles.
“The Bourbon Times was more political and liked to delve into community
problems, policies and political races. They tried to always have commentaries about
community issues that sometimes criticized and sometimes praised,” said Gibson. “The
Citizen is a very typical community newspaper that reports on churches, school, court
records, and local news, including a lot of pictures. They quit running regular
commentaries some time ago, although recently Genevieve Brannon ran one on the
Millersburg Military Academy.”
Gibson said newspaper competition is always good but “It is economically
unrealistic to have two newspapers.”
Hazel Kenney, 70, a native of Bourbon County and former employee of the
Times, suggested a reason that the Citizen won the newspaper war.
“The community has a soft spot for the Brannons because they have been in the
community a long time and have worked hard to put out a paper that the people are happy
with,” she said.
Although there are no longer two newspapers in Paris, there are two sides to the
development issues. Should the sleepy little town remain as it is or progress with the
times? And how is that issue being reported?
In July of this year the Citizen covered a packed planning and zoning meeting
where 35 acres of land at the intersection of Lexington Road and the Paris By-Pass, was
approved for a commercial shopping center. The Citizen headline read, “Planning &
Zoning Approves Rezoning Of Letton Property By 11-2 Vote.” This vote came after a
two-year discussion and a previous vote turning down the request for the zoning change.
By August 24, the Paris City Commission voted unanimously to pass an
ordinance that rezones the Lexington Road/Paris Pike and the Paris By-Pass from
agricultural to commercial. Once the ordinance becomes law developers may present
plans to the Planning and Zoning Commission for approval.
The story said, “Many of the citizens who spoke for the commercial center and an
expanded Wal-Mart at the location cited the need for more retail shopping opportunities.
Those opposed to the zoning change cited traffic congestion and the negative impact of a
commercial center on local businesses.”
The Citizen reported fairly and fully on this story Aug. 4, but the Sept. 1 story on
the same subject was so sketchy it was hard to follow. The story was included with other
P & Z business. It could have been separated and received fuller coverage. Both August
and September stories ran as lead stories on the front page.
The Nov. 17 Citizen said, “Wal-Mart is working on a site development plan and is
expected to present it to Planning and Zoning in December. Once the plan is approved
actual site development will begin.” Opinion or bias wasn’t evident in this story.
While Wal-Mart is known for big box stores, it is also known to do very little
advertising in the newspapers after their grand opening. Wal-Mart often puts the small
storeowners out of business by underselling them. Hardware, grocery and clothing stores
are just a few businesses that will be forced out. This could take away advertisements
from the local paper.
Then again, Wal-Mart could bring in people from neighboring counties to shop in
Paris. People would not have to drive to Lexington to shop but instead keep the revenue
at home. The people of Paris want to keep their small town charm while limiting their
growth. So far their efforts have worked.