The toughest challenge Allen Worrell faces on a daily basis is that he can’t self report. What does that mean ? Allen has a job that comes with adult responsibilities and he has to keep his newspaper 📰 afloat in a time where that in itself is a challenge. I know this because I have spent my entire life in the same business. Chris Graham of the Augusta Free Press is a long time friend of ours and he runs a full blown online Newspaper 📰 that covers both News and Sports. Chris and Crystal Graham built what they have from scratch and I feel honored to have played a small part in it over the years. What is the difference between the three of us ? Chris Graham is working for himself and gets to interject his thoughts into his work. Some folks love Chris for his style while others not so much. Freedom of the Press has more than one meaning.
Choosing between creating anew online newspaper 📰 or a Community Blog was the easiest decision of my life. First, I am no where near as smart as Chris Graham and second I want to only write Positivity and get to choose my topics. I, like Chris, don’t answer to anyone when it comes to what I want to write about. I have so many less readers than I could because I am Choosing the path that I am but fortunately I am not chasing numbers, just joy.
Now let’s look at the third person in this equation, our friend Allen Worrell. Each week Allen is asked to produce a Community newspaper for a Community that is not all that small. Allen is incredibly limited in his space from week to week and often doesn’t know until the last moment how much space he has to fill on a given week.
I’m only going to brush up against the story about what recently happened with Craig Worrell and that’s for two reasons, first I admire Craig and I’m trying to establish a relationship with him and second, its his story. But I will mention that later tonight Craig Worrell is being honored by Carroll County in the highest way possible, putting him into the CVHS Hall of Fame shortly after the Gazette made the decision that they didn’t need his services anymore. While it felt personal to many, it was a case of Dollars and Cents for the folks at their home office 🏢.
I will add that in form of a quiet protes. I haven’t read the Gazette since.
Allen Worrell is trying his best to keep a Newspaper afloat in a time where even the largest newspapers are scrambling to keep their head above water. I will even offer up an example from my end in that I recently wrote a story on what I called the First Family 👪 of Basketball. I like the piece (I have an incredibly high opinion of my own writing) and its currently sitting in Allen’s inbox 📥. I understand that it will eventually find its way into the newspaper, when Allen has room for it. I could have written ✍ the Gettysburg Address but it wouldn’t matter because “it’s only a blog”. I will patiently await my turn because of my level of understanding of his situation.
This week’s edition of The Carroll News has five stories in it with my Byline on them because Allen had more space to fill and I was happy to help him out. The two of us are trying to team up for the betterment of the Community we call home 🏡. One of the agreements we have is that we won’t write the same story. We aren’t competing with each other, its just that the bigger stories are his to write. You witnessed that both with the Samantha Reed story this week and again tonight with Alyssa Ervin and the Hall of Fame ceremony. I won’t write about tonight because its a bigger stage and those belong to Allen. So tonight I will just be in the building on The Hill going 15,14,13,12,11,10………
To bring it full 🔵 I will use the GoldieLocks analogy.
Chris Graham is a incredibly talented writer without fear in taking a stand so his bed is too hard.
Jerry Carter is trying to be a Greater Fool so he tries to avoid having an opinion – his Bed is way too soft.
Allen Worrell is a great guy 👦 trying hard to service his community in a part of our Industry that is wilting away right in front of our very eyes 👀. He’s just right… and that is part of the story about how he ended up as Table Master at Table 6 and why anytime I’m holding a 🎤 at a Carroll County High School 🏫 sporting event and he’s there as well I acknowledge him and ask for a round of applause 👏. If you had spent 40+ years in the Newspaper business as I have and understood just what all he’s and his plucky side kick are up against, you might to cheer him on as well !
A.S.P.N on The Hill 