There are new champions amongst us

One of my favorite stories, and I’ve played it in this space more than once, is to remind everyone that, to my knowledge, Clinton County native Tom Allen is the only local who has earned a NCAA Championship Bowl ring, doing so as an equipment manager with the University of Kentucky Wildcats in the Hall of Fame Bowl for Coach Jerry Claiborne.

Last week, Tom was joined by two other CCHS grads who can now say they have earned college championship rings.

As you can read in a front page article this week, Bulldog football standouts JonAllen Cross and Parker Tallent, both of whom are freshman members of the Lindsey Wilson Blue Raiders, will both be presented rings after their team won the NAIA National Championship game last week.

Congrats are certainly in order for both players on their success on the grid-iron. With their youth in the Blue Raider program, expect more titles to come their way before they graduate.

More congrats to future college players

There are more congrats in order for two CCHS athletes who in the past few days have penned National Letters of Intent to continue their athletic careers on the college level.

Last Thursday, Volley Dawg Autumn McCutchen signed to play with the Blue Raiders of Lindsey Wilson College in nearby Columbia.

On Monday of this week, Bulldog basketball player Nick Brown became the latest roundball athlete to be able to take his game to the next level, signing to play for the Campbellsville University Tigers.

Congrats to both of the Dawgs, and their families, on this accomplishment.

School board says “no” to a one-time opportunity

Word came Monday evening that for whatever reasons, our Clinton County School Board voted unanimously to deny at least 17 students the opportunity to take the “do-over” that SB 128 would have allowed them.

The one-time chance to retake their past year of school, in an attempt to re-gain the losses suffered due to the COVID-19 pandemic, wasn’t to be for everyone, but for those who wanted to give it a go – it was a fantastic opportunity.

It appears Clinton County will be one of the few area school districts to take this opportunity off the table for our students – whether it be an athletic missed opportunity, or an academically missed opportunity.

From the sounds of the comments I’m getting, this decision likely wasn’t the most popular with the public, and especially with the parents of students who were seeking to take advantage of the one time “do-over” chance.

The students, and especially their parents, who wanted to enter this particular realm, should have been shown the respect to not have this rug jerked out from under them, for whatever reason it truly was.

From this desk, and having talked at length about SB 128 on multiple occasions with its author, Kentucky Senator Max Wise, I can only say I’m disappointed in the decisions of this elected board to not do everything they can for the benefit of all of the students.

I can also say, I’m not totally surprised.