Waggener High School - RingBrothersHistory.com

The Voice, July 25, 1974:25th Anniversary IssueHe wanted to be fair. So on February 9 he denounced annexation by Louisville, and the following week outlined argumentsin favor of annexation. One thing was certain, he said, ‘something must be done.”When the Municipal League reported 69 percent of those polled favored incorporation, Jimmy came out in favor of Incorporation.Tell-tale size: The February 16 edition increased one inch in depth, signifying that The Voice had changed printers. OnMarch 16, it shrank back an inch. Jimmy had changed printers again, as his credit ran out, it increased an inch and shrankback once more in the next year, until The Voice finally went full-size for good.On May 25, 1950, one of the strangest editorials in Kentucky journalism appeared in The Voice, it said in part:“This newspaper has used a policy unheard of in journalistic circles. We have believed everyone without reservation . . .The time has arrived for clear, unbiased reporting . . . This plan may hurt many individuals and undoubtedly make enemies,but the truth must replace fiction . . From this day forward, if any reported fraud, deceit, distortion of truth, or dishonesty isuncovered by this office, it will appear in print….”There wasn’t anything in the paper to explain what he was talking about, and I haven’t any idea.Jimmy succeeded Howard Hunt as president of the St. Matthews Chamber of Commerce in June, 1950. “No one is helpedby the surly witticisms thrown at organizations that are trying to build the community,” wrote Jimmy in July. ‘Before youjudge a group, join it.” The organization collapsed shortly afterwards.Jimmy was a colorful character, as you may have gathered by now, in a profession that spawns picturesque personalities.Most St. Matthews merchants loved him, and his escapades have become part of the local legend.He hired me in September, 1950, on the strength of my uncle’s recommendation (or his razor). I was a senior at the Universityof Louisville, majoring in English, and was managing editor of the Cardinal, the school’s weekly. I worked for Jimmyon Saturday. His office was in the Post Office Building at Breckenridge Lane and Willis, we shared it with a stove salesman.Sophie Elliott was bookkeeper. Jimmy was editor and publisher. Jimmy paid me $5 a week, which, after taxes and transportation,boiled down to a cool $3.35. The first two stories I wrote for him were a feature on the Kentucky Farm Bureau,which was built here in 1948, and a story about Robert Kraft, 3827 Ormond Road, who had broken his leg while paintinghis house.I would report to the office at 9 am on Saturday. Usually it was deserted, and first I would read the competition, The St.Matthews Sun, also a tabloid, which started, I believe, in 1933, and went out of business—towards the end of 1953.The Sun was owned and published by Tom Jones, of Jeffersontown, a good newsman who also published the Jeffersonian,but no businessman. Tom could never remembered to bill his advertisers. St. Matthews jeweler Charlie Lester told me heand another businessman, determined to get their bills from Tom, once lay in wait for him at an intersection he passed eachmorning.After reading the Sun, I would call several sources for news -- Kenneth Farmer, principal of Greathouse School, the onlyelementary school in St. Matthews until Stivers was built In 1952 or 1953; Ed Kaiser, secretary of the St. Matthews Y; severalchurches; and the St. Matthews Volunteer Fire Department. We did not go in for investigative reporting. The paper wasa throwaway and we just needed enough copy to fill in around the ads. A hard day’s work by me on Saturday would normallyfill the front page and several inside pages. Jimmy filled out the rest with social news contributed by Ruth Noe Paine.Basil Willis, a Greyhound bus driver, was our part-time photographer. Basil charged $1 a print. But he had a bad habit ofalways setting the focus on his camera at infinity. Consequently most of his pictures were blurred. Jimmy nicknamed him“Out of Focus” Willis and claimed the only sharp picture he ever took was once when he tripped and fired the camera accidentally,getting a perfect exposure of his shoe.Jimmy put out a beautiful Christmas edition that year. The Smithers’ Grocery ad was in red and green. Jimmy’s Christmasmessage read, in part, “Shelbyville Road will continue to be covered in blood until the County Police leave the comparativesafety of the St. Matthews White Castle restaurant and begin a real campaign against the murderers of the highway.”In the next issue, he refused to apologize, and gave the police another salvo. The Voice carried a story the Our Lady ofLourdes held first Masses in its new Sanctuary. Jimmy note: “We now have 10 churches in St. Matthews and seven bookmakers.”I shifted to night school for my last semester at the University and Jimmy made me a full-time employee. My starting paywas $45 a week, an extremely modest wage even then. During college I had been working nights at International Harvesterand was earning $80 to $90 a week. But, when my name appeared on the masthead over the title, news editor, for the firsttime on February 1, 1951, I had stars in my eyes, despite a 50 percent cut in income. I was at last a newspaperman.Full size: The Voice went full size on March 1, 1951. I wrote the lead sentence myself: “Like a young giant bursting out of