Every home Softball game for the past four seasons, Ron Cochran has joined me in our Foul Ball contest and the pics above show six of the winners from this season !

A sincere show of gratitude 🙏 to Ron for his making this possible the past four years !

This year, we even had a new participant in the program as the energetic young Lady that shares his shop with him joined in on the fun !

Ron Cochran, you Sir, are a wonderful man 👨!!!

Year #4, we presented a gold watch to outgoing athletic director Darrin Mathews, and in Year #5, it was retiring Superintendent Dr Mark Burnette. Year #6 called for a set of them as the staff at The Carroll News moved on in completely different ways.

David Broyles was always known as ” Plucky Side Kick ” to Boss Man 👨, Allen Worrell. David was / is a card-carrying member of the Duke University Medical Center Fab Four. It was pretty amazing to me that there could be four members of Carroll County with next level ties to the staff at Duke University.

The family of Tiff Moore, the Broyles family, Principal Thompson, and myself all bleed Duke Blue for reasons that have nothing to do with Basketball 🏀.

Broyles and his bride 👰‍♀ had a date for his retirement circled on the calendar last year, and the two love 💕 birds 🐦🐦‍⬛ were prepared to grow old together. Greg Bolen, my Super Hero, even stopped ✋️ by Cavalier Park last September 13th as we took the time to acknowledge the writing ✍️ career of Plucky !

David needed to stay on board for a couple of extra months longer when Allen Worrell announced that he would be transferring back to civilian life around the same time.

It took a hot minute for us to create a team, but once we did, it proved to be beyond enjoyable. While I had no ” official capacity ” at the newspaper ( that could be said at every where I spend time), the three of us spent a great deal of time together over a three year period. This also led to some photos 📸 that I consider prized possessions of mine.

David has a very unique take on life and, like myself, is not afraid to self-deprecate. Because if you can’t laugh at your own expense, who can you laugh at ?

David Broyles is a Class Act from a time that reminds me of Mayberry, and Allen Worrell (Whirl) is the definition of a HOMER !!! We often laughed 😅 about our partnership over the years as ” Homer’s R US “

We showed support for each other and tried our best to laugh whenever we could. We cared about each other and our families and worked together for an extended period of time in hopes that we could produce the best newspaper 📰 possible each and every week !

That’s the reason why there are three watches ⌚️instead of just two. Solidarity is the word for the relationship ! The partnership of Allen working with Seth Greer and Casey Burcham while I did my very best to provide coverage for Rick Nester, Anthony Barnes, Cindy Edwards, and Shawn Montgomery worked. We met in the middle on the others and found a balance that worked.

My hope was to create one last feel-good moment over some pizza 🍕, maybe we can still pull that off, maybe not. See, Allen’s people are not going to just clear his schedule now that he is off making the world a better place for others.

Good people who earned a living by serving others and I was proud to be associated with BOSS MAN and Plucky Side Kick ! Together, we made the Three Musketeers !!

Now the newspaper has a new Sherriff in town, and he has Ryan McCafferty as his wingman. The future of the newspaper 📰 is in solid hands ✋️and we wish them continued success.

David and Allen, Thanks for the memories !