Rick Wohlhuter

July, 1975

Eighteen years ago, Tom Gish left his reporting job with U.P.I., returned to his home town of Whitesburg, Kentucky (population 1800), and bought The Mountain Eagle. He quickly lost any romantic notions he'd had about the leisurely life of a country editor: "On a rural weekly, you share the news--good and bad--with the people it happens to. You face your readers every day. There's no ducking. You get angry. You work your ass off." Gish's timing was impeccable; he came to Appalachia just...