Doing what you love to do - Kathy Jefcoats

I love my job, do you? I absolutely love being a news reporter. This is my fourth newspaper since I graduated from Macon College and I have had an interesting career. I have met interesting people and people who think they are interesting but who are not. I met Sonny Perdue when he was stumping for state senator back in the early 1990s. I met Roy Barnes when he was campaigning for some office before he ran for governor. I met Zell Miller while he was governor. That was a cool meeting. I was getting the Beacon Award from the Georgia School Boards Association for my coverage of the Jones County School System and Miller was the keynote speaker.

I decided to turn the event into a news story. Not to write that I had gotten an award but to let people know what the governor had to say about public education. He was really promoting alternative schools, which I was happy to hear. Anyway, I needed some specifics about his speech so when it was over, I went up to him and asked him about something he'd said. He walked over to the podium and handed me his typed speech, complete with his handwritten editing. I still have it.