LAUREL COUNTY, Ky. — It hit me on Wednesday night, unexpectedly and unannounced, slithering in like a thief with its ultimate purpose to take what didn’t belong to it and what I wasn’t ready to give willingly.

A scratchy throat seemed nothing out of the ordinary with the temperature gauge fluctuating between the 20s and 60s over the past few weeks, intermingled with rain, snow and wind that left dampened hair, soggy boots, wet pant legs and a constant ringing in my ears even in quiet moments.

But by Wednesday night, I achieved a boy-in-puberty type vocal range with a scratchy hoarseness, a throat that felt sandpaper-lined, and a dulling throb in my ears. It was no better on Thursday and I had to make an extreme effort to project my voice to be loud enough to be heard and understand by those brave enough to try and listen to my comments.

On Friday morning, the “crud” took a turn for the worse and, with great regret, I informed my co-workers that I had chosen not to attend the Kentucky Press Association convention on Friday evening, even though there would be a luxurious hotel room waiting for me should I decide that crud was overshadowing fun.

It was a heart-breaking decision.

Each year, newspapers from around the state submit articles for judging in various categories — editorial, column, news writing, news pictures, sports columns, sports stories and sports pictures. Newspapers are divided into categories as well — daily, weekly, and multi-weekly — then subdivided into divisions based on their circulation.

The Sentinel-Echo has some tough competitors and while I will leave the details of who won what to an upcoming story in our Wednesday paper, I will say that I am extremely proud of the staff here for their achievements this year, not only with the KPA contest, but for our overall effort to bring our readers a fine product that features all aspects of life here in my hometown.

The KPA awards are the “Oscars” for newspaper folks and often give us opportunity to see acquaintances from other newspapers, as well as meet other writers. A dinner, awards ceremony, and entertainment afterwards is the gala of newspaper folks — and one well-deserved evening, I must add.

But with “the crud” seemingly exerting its power over my Friday morning and evening activities, I plugged on to work with my roller-coaster-pitch voice, coughing and hacking and regretting that I would be missing the main celebration of my field.

By mid-afternoon, the crud was giving way to consistent coughing, thereby tossing itself into a full-blown case of “the croup,” as my ancestors called it, and my ears felt like I’d joined the newest style of having huge bolts implanted in my ear lobes.

Visions of catered meats, vegetables, desserts and dancing became less and less desirable as thoughts of chicken noodle soup, hot chocolate and a warm, fleece blanket on my living room couch called my name.

The redeeming factor, I suppose, is that my co-workers and family members  can reap the full benefits of getting “the silent treatment.”



njohnson@sentinel-echo.com