Bob’s Piddle Whittle Shop

Bob Brittingham walks past his wood working shop behind his house. He said that he can make just about anything if he has the drawings for it. (©Ken Ritchie/The Madison Courier)

This assignment was on a guy who used to own a five & dime way back in the day. The store isn’t there anymore, there were no trinkets, not a lot to work with. So as the reporter talked with Bob, I shot some close face shots of him laughing and reflecting on things and hoping he would give me something more.
Then he started talking about woodworking as his new love. More than just a hobby, woodworking gave this older man a purpose to get up and get moving every morning. He passed his wood shop as he made his way to the garage where he stores everything he makes until it is sold. When I saw the sign I knew that would be the shot.

Cheer Followers to Cheerleaders

Carroll County High School cheerleaders Staci McArter, left, and Tessa Stewart teach Kathryn Winn Primary first-grader Allie Beach how to do back flips at the tumbling station of this year's cheerleading camp at CCHS on Thursday, September 18.
The camp, for students in grades kindergarten through fifth, has teaching sessions each afternoon through Thursday and will culminate in a performance by the Elementary students at the Panthers football game on Friday night.
High school cheerleading coach Shelly Hunt said it is nice to see the transition that the girls make in one week and noted that some of the former camp students are now Panther cheerleaders who are teaching the kids to cheer. (©Ken Ritchie/The Madison Courier)

Carroll County High School cheerleaders Brittany Harmon, front-center, and Rebecca Gibson, out of frame to left, teach dance moves to cheer camp students Dailee Sanders, center row - from left, Aston Fox, and Kacie Dermon; and back row - from left, Alexis Tillet, Abby Miracle and Ciera Drake. (©Ken Ritchie/The Madison Courier)

Yes, I know the backgrounds are distracting. I couldn’t find a clean shot no matter ho high or low I got.

Pigtails and a Barrel Racer

Bailee Brandon, 7, of Hanover, stands on the fence and watches a competitor in the barrel racing event at the Family Worship Center's Great Community Picnic at the Carroll County Fairgrounds in Carrollton, Ky., on Sunday, September 16. Celebrating its fifth year, the community picnic had an estimated crowd of more than 7,000 people from Carroll and other counties. Denise Menke, of the family Worship center said the reason for the picnic is to "give back to the community and to show God's love in a practical way."

The church also was helped by the Carroll County Fair Board, local 4-H clubs and others.
The picnic included inflatable fun stations, an antique tractor pull, live music, rock wall climbing, pony rides, a horse show including the barrel racing as well as pole bending, a car show with more than 300 automobiles and a 4-H livestock show. All events were free to the public. (©Ken Ritchie/The Madison Courier)

I shot a bunch of pics for this event that showed he scope of the get together (it was a massive deal) but I was really bored with big crowd shots so I kept looking and found this. I wish I could have cleaned up the background a bit more, but as I moved around, I just got more bright cars back there. I tried to get higher, but that screwed up my composition with the girl and the barrel. I still like it.

Your Story — Jim Putman

Cobbler Jim Putman uses an antique Adler patching machine to fix a strap on a purse for a walk-in customer to his shop on Thursday, September 7. (©Ken Ritchie/The Madison Courier)

Putman discusses options with customer Tia Oberhausen, of Milton, who brought in some unevenly worn sandals for repair at Putman's shop on Thursday, September 7. (©Ken Ritchie/The Madison Courier)

Putman inspects the stitching on a strap on a purse for a walk-in customer to his shop on Thursday, September 7. (©Ken Ritchie/The Madison Courier)

Scissors, rulers and other tools of Putman's trade can be found laying out on nearly every flat surface of his shop. (©Ken Ritchie/The Madison Courier)

Shoetrees, forms that hold the shape of shoes being made or repaired, hang from a rack in Putman's Towne Cobbler shop. He keeps himself busy repairing shoes, purses, and other leather accessories as well as custom manufacturing of items for clients. (©Ken Ritchie/The Madison Courier)

Hot Corn

A scorched ear of corn clings to a stalk standing in the charred remains of a cornfield in Blocher that was ravaged by fire on Wednesday, September 12. (©Ken Ritchie/The Madison Courier)

Hot Busing

Madison Consolidated Junior High eighth-grader Natalie Hammons, 14, is helped off the bus by busing aid Sharon Denning at her home on Hicks Ridge, near Canaan, on Tuesday, August 28. Natalie's mother, Martha Hammons, said her daughter usually spends more than an hour on the bus to get home in the afternoons. While the high temperatures have now departed, Hammons said she that her wheel chair bound daughter has arrived home flushed and dehydrated due to the long ride in the non-air conditioned buses that are used for special needs students in the district. Hammons said she is concerned but is dependent on the bus transportation for her daughter. (©Ken Ritchie/The Madison Courier)

Bus driver Delores Webster, right, says goodbye to Madison Consolidated Junior High eighth-grader Natalie Hammons, 14, as she is helped off the bus at her home on Hicks Ridge, near Canaan, on Tuesday, August 28. Natalie's mother, Martha Hammons, left, said her daughter usually spends more than an hour on the bus to get home in the afternoons. While the high temperatures have now departed, Hammons said she that her wheel chair bound daughter has arrived home flushed and dehydrated due to the long ride in the non-air conditioned buses that are used for special needs students in the district. Hammons said she is concerned but is dependent on the bus transportation for her daughter. (©Ken Ritchie/The Madison Courier)

Firebird

Southwestern High School Rebel Regiment alto saxophonist Sam Sailer looks to drum major Michael Bramer for direction as the band practices it's "Firebird: The Return" set at the high school on Friday, September 7. (©Ken Ritchie/The Madison Courier)

Marching band director Ruth Nickels shouts orders from a riser next to the parking lot as the band practices it's "Firebird: The Return" set at the high school on Friday, September 7. The practice also served as a performance for the band's families.
Southwestern performed the original "Firebird" when Nickels began her stint at the school in 1997. She said bringing the performance back on the tenth anniversary seemed like the right thing to do. The music for the presentation was written by Igor Stravinsky.
Nickels said the biggest challenge was to pull off a such a major piece with such a small group. There are 34 students in this year's band, with only 7 seniors.
Today, the marching band will compete in the Kings High School Invitational, in Kings Mill, Ohio, Southwestern's first invitational of the season. Nickels said the band will compete at nine invitational this season. (©Ken Ritchie/The Madison Courier)

Antique Appraisals

Gerry Michl (hands on left) gets an appraisal of her English Iron Stone serving platter from Greg Strahm, of TreasureQuest Appraisal Group at the visitor's center on Saturday, September 8. "We rarely see one is this good a condition," Strahm said. (©Ken Ritchie/The Madison Courier)

Tim Luke, of TreasureQuest Appraisal Group, studies the back of a framed Delft plate with a portrait of Rembrandt, for clues as to its value during Appraisal Day 2007, a fundraising event for the Lanier Mansion Foundation at the visitors center on Saturday, September 7. (©Ken Ritchie/The Madison Courier)

911 Service

Agelique Tung and Rob Moore watch a montage of footage from the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York City and Washington D.C. at the beginning of a 9-11 memorial service at a church in Chelsea on Tuesday. Tung and Moore were both at the World Trade Center on 9-11, Tung for a business meeting and Moore as a firefighter responding to the scene. Both told their stories. (©Ken Ritchie/The Madison Courier)

You cannot compare tragedies. I know that, but here’s my thought.
I lost a brother in a car accident on October 19, 2000. He was 14.
Millions of people have had similar losses and we all have to get through them in our own ways.
On September 11, many people lost loved ones in a series of terrorist attacks and they all have to get through it in their own ways.
The thing I am wondering is: How does the replay of images from the attacks at services like this one weigh on the victims’ friends, families and coworkers year after year?
The planes crash, the buildings burn, the people jump to their deaths and the towers fall down after them.
As this service began, the pastor chided those who have admitted a fatigue from the images replayed at these events. He not so subtly stated that those who died deserve to be remembered and if you don’t like watching these shows, there must be something cold or uncaring in your nature.
I disagree.
The victims DO deserve to be remembered, just like my brother who died before he grew up and just like a grandmother who gives in to old age and moves on to heaven.
But why relive the death?
If there were video footage of my brother’s accident I would not want to watch it.
I want to look back through photographs of him as an infant, child and young teen. I want to remember his smile and laugh, not the carnage and pain of his passing.
We all get through it in our own way and my way is not to pick the scab and mourn again and again. My way is to smile and sometimes cry at a passing memory and then continue on with life.

New York City Firefighter Rob Moore pauses while telling of his experiences at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. (©Ken Ritchie/The Madison Courier)

Staff Sgt. Nicholas Carnes Returns Home

Wray Jean Carnes, left, mother of Kentucky Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Nicholas Carnes weeps beside her son's grave site in Alexandria, Ky. Sgt. Carnes' wife, Terri Bernstein-Carnes, clutches the folded flag that had been draped over her husband's coffin during his funeral and movement to the cemetery. Bernstein-Carnes' father Alan sits in the second row comforting his daughter with a hand on her back through the service on Tuesday, September 4. (©Ken Ritchie/The Madison Courier)

Kentucky Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Nicholas Carnes' coffin is carried out of St. Mary's Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption in Covington, Ky., on Tuesday, September 4. Carnes, 25, was a member of the Carrollton based 2nd Battalion 138th Field Artillery unit. He died on Sunday, August 26 in a gunfight in Afghanistan. (©Ken Ritchie/The Madison Courier)

A group of friends, family and fellow soldiers mourn the death of Kentucky Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Nicholas Carnes at his funeral at St. Mary's Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption in Covington, Ky., on Tuesday, September 4. Carnes, 25, was a member of the Carrollton based 2nd Battalion 138th Field Artillery unit. He died on Sunday, August 26 in a gunfight in Afghanistan. (©Ken Ritchie/The Madison Courier)

2nd Lt. Carla Getchell, waits near the hearse outside St. Mary's Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption in Covington, Ky., prior to Kentucky Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Nicholas Carnes' funeral on Tuesday, September 4. Carnes, 25, was a member of the Carrollton based 2nd Battalion 138th Field Artillery unit. He died on Sunday, August 26 in a gunfight in Afghanistan. (©Ken Ritchie/The Madison Courier)

Holding her program in he hymnal, an attendee of Kentucky Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Nicholas Carnes' funeral sings Amazing Grace with the mourners at St. Mary's Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption in Covington, Ky., on Tuesday, September 4. Carnes, 25, was a member of the Carrollton based 2nd Battalion 138th Field Artillery unit. He died on Sunday, August 26 in a gunfight in Afghanistan. (©Ken Ritchie/The Madison Courier)

Wrinkled Face & Melted Vinyl

"You name it and I probably had it in there," said Henry Southerland, as he watched firefighters douse the smoldering remains of his barn at 1450 East Camp Meeting Road on Thursday, September 6. Southerland said he used the barn to hold lawn mowers that he was repairing, and anything else that he collected over the years. "I got too many collections," he said.
Madison Township, Ryker's Ridge, New Marion and Versailles firefighters responded to the blaze. A cause for the fire has not yet been determined. (©Ken Ritchie/The Madison Courier)

Habitat

I’ve covered enough of these to know that I didn’t want the ceremony shots t be our centerpiece for the story. So after the passing of the keys and the pontification was over, I waited for the move in later in the day and got a nice quiet moment of the girl in her bright room. I never was happy with what I got with the Mom, but at least it was a bit different than the rest of my Habitat ventures.

Sadie Wells, 12, arranges the furniture in her colorful new room in the recently completed Habitat for Humanity home that Sadie and her mother, Catina Craig, moved into on Saturday, September 1. (©Ken Ritchie/The Madison Courier)

With the help of a large group of friends and family, Catina Craig and her daughter Sadie Wells move into their new Habitat for Humanity home soon after being given the keys on Saturday, September 1. During the presentation of the home, Craig said that she had been resigned to the fact that she would probably always have to rent a place to live, but now thanks to all of the volunteers, she is a proud homeowner. (©Ken Ritchie/The Madison Courier)