There is no winner.

The "plant" in Putnam County past-times is the story about a prize being given for the best tattoo and the fattest Hoosier at the Putnam County Fair. I made that up, because I see little kids at the swimming pool with tattoos (fake, I hope) and because, well, we are fat.

Alas, all the other stories are just so: the women at the TOPS picnic will be eating KFC and pie; the Confederate Rebel flag did fly; the goats were handily praised; the chickens did die in the storm, still a mystery how; and, alas, the Banner Graphic of Greencastle did publish John McCain's exit strategy along with an insulting Obama campaign.

So why am I moving from Putnam? Because I want to savor these great memories in my dotage....

http://www.gannettblog.blogspot.com/

Also, for the record: Braden Nicholson's last day with the Indianapolis Star was May 23.

Is corporate paying attention? Because frankly, you can't run a newspaper without a pool of young talent determined to stay the course...

One of the more talented young journalists at the Star, Braden Nicholson, 29, formerly project manager for innovation/development and general manager for indy.com and indy.com magazine, has left Gannett to join Sports Graphics as a vice president/account services.

http://sportg.com/

Braden's many fans, one of whom gave me the word, wish him the best in his new position. That's because they have such good memories of working with him.

Braden, ditto.

Here's some of what he had so say about his departure and what was accomplished during the heady days of, first, INTake and later indy.com:

"Frankly, I look back at it all very fondly. I've told everyone who's

asked that 'I'll never badmouth The Star.' And I won't. Love most of the

people. Loved my time there. I just couldn't convince myself that

everything was going to be okay at the corporate level any more....

"We were working on some unbelievable stuff, really innovative stuff,

at the time. Hell, we even took home an EPpy for indy.com (over a

product from corporate in the same category) the week I left. But I saw

how the majority of our best work was being undone by corporate. Rather than working hard because I loved what we were doing (which I did), I started working hard to spite corporate. To make a better whatchamacallit than them, show them that these kids in Indiana can do it better, faster, now.

"I wouldn't trade most of the people I worked with at The Star for

anything in the world...I wouldn't trade the opportunity I was given

for anything in the world. But the gig was up."

Braden was hired by the Star in March of 2001. He took over for INTake --- Gannett's edgy, short-lived youth publication -- in late 2005/early 2006 after then boss Kevin Poortinga moved to a VP slot for new development status with the newspaper.

Braden's departure is significant on a couple of levels: first, under his watch, indy.com won points from peers: Editor and Publisher and MEDIWEEK named it the best entertainment web site; that's the EPpy reference. But, as my source notes, Braden has not jumped ship for another journalism/newspaper job. He's joined a small parade of former INTake people at Sports Graphics, and he's part of a group of four or five other INTake people who have decided to seek their fortunes outside the realm of dailies.

You know what is a bummer about this? When INTake was first launched, the young men and women working there were so stoked that some of them actually slept on the office floor rather than take a break at home. It used to be fashionable for older journalists to bitch about young reporters not having "fire in the belly." Well, these kids had fire in the belly.

Braden said it best. Corporate doused the fire.

Best of the best to Braden and his comrades.

Let's play a game today. Following are some headlines and/or stories that recently "broke" in Putnam County. Some of the events described were reported in the Greencastle Banner Graphic newspaper. Others are simply hearsay (but true, fair and accurate -- well, almost).

However, one story is a ringer. Pick the one that is not true.

1. Goat judge impressed by Putnam County. (Number of goats largest ever seen; character of dairy goats here noted).

2. Man flies Confederate war flag on county property governed by fair board. When man is finally asked to take flag down by a reluctant public official, he does. But he does not understand what the problem is.

3. TOPS group (Taking Off Pounds Sensibly) plans picnic; spends 20 minutes discussing meat, finally decides on Kentucky Fried Chicken. Dessert will be pie, but NOT peach or rhubarb.

4. Summer storm hits Putnam with 80-mph winds. Some chickens at county fair killed. Banner-Graphic editor Jamie Barrand includes this info in a story, then has to write follow-up column defending her decision after reader calls the paper "a joke." Paper never explains how chickens were killed.

5. Two new fair contests give prizes for "best tattoo" and "fattest Hoosier." This is part of the carnival circuit, not a sanctioned fair activity.

6. Banner-Graphic beats New York Times to punch and runs John McCain's op-ed piece, "My plan for Iraq." NYTimes had printed Barack Obama's strategy but an editor rejected McCain's because it contained no new information. B-G also runs insulting Obama cartoon on top of McCain's article, showing Obama as a New Yorker terrorist and a crying baby.

OK, which story is made up?

Bruce Hetrick, the communications guy, recently penned a blog on the guilt he feels for subscribing to newspapers yet not reading them.

"Everyone is doing it," he noted, speaking of the bright light now focused on newspapers. He's right on the money.

We are witnesses to a train wreck, and we can't take our eyes off the carnage. But why does this subject get to so many of us at such a gut level?

Read the following, sent by a reader, written by Chris Hedges of AlterNet.

Here's a taste:

"The decline of newspapers is about the rise of the corporate state, the loss of civic and public responsibility on the part of much of our entrepreneurial class and the intellectual poverty of our post-literate world, a world where information is conveyed primarily through rapidly moving images rather than print."

There is a reason the newspaper industry historically was known as the Fourth Estate. It is part of the checks and balances that make the U.S. a great country and Americans such invigorating, curious people. If we lose it, it will be like losing a limb -- we will never be the same.

Hedges premise is that the Internet won't save newspapers. I agree. Here is more from Hedges, then the link:

"Newspapers, when well run, are a public trust. They provide, at their best, the means for citizens to examine themselves, to ferret out lies and the abuse of power by elected officials and corrupt businesses, to give a voice to those who would, without the press, have no voice, and to follow, in ways a private citizen cannot, the daily workings of local, state and federal government. Newspapers hire people to write about city hall, the state capital, political campaigns, sports, music, art and theater. They keep citizens engaged with their cultural, civic and political life."

And the link:

http://www.alternet.org/democracy/92284