Kentucky Press Group Elects New Officers

By: Taylor Hayes, publisher of the Kentucky New Era in Hopkinsville, is the new president of the Kentucky Press Association.

Also elected during the organization's winter convention last week in Lexington were Edmund Shelby, president-elect; Chip Hutcheson, vice president; and Dennis Hetzel, treasurer.

Kriss Johnson, education outreach manager for the Lexington Herald-Leader, was the 2007 KPA president.

Hayes is a fifth generation newspaper person. His great-greath-grandfather, Hunter Wood, bought interest in the Kentucky New Era in 1871, when it was a weekly. Hayes has also served two terms on the board of the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association.

Shelby, who will become president in 2009, was news editor of the Hazard Herald before joining Nolan Newspapers, where he has been editor and general manager of the Jackson Times and the Beattyville Enterprise.

Hutcheson, publisher of the Princeton Times Leader, is the state chairman for the National Newspaper Association and serves on the NNA board.

Hetzel, general manager of the Kentucky Enquirer, came to Kentucky four years ago from York, Pa., where he had been editor and publisher of the Daily Record for 14 years.