The recently released biography North Platte’s Keith Blackledge: Lessons from a Community Journalist, written by Dr. Carol Lomicky, professor emerita of journalism, University of Nebraska-Kearney, with Chuck Salestrom, retired administrator at Mid-Plains Community College, North Platte, soon will be available for readers throughout Nebraska from their local public libraries.
Sponsored by the North Platte Area Habitat for Humanity and funded by a James and Rhonda Seacrest Donor-Advised Fund through North Platte’s Mid-Nebraska Community Foundation, a copy of the Blackledge book is being delivered to each of Nebraska’s 273 primary public libraries. The distribution will be handled by volunteers from the North Platte Area Ready to Serve Volunteer Program (RSVP).
Because Mr. Blackledge was instrumental in helping to establish the North Platte Area Habitat for Humanity, the organization’s sponsorship of the distribution of the book is a way of honoring him as well as preserving his legacy, according to Dalene Skates, executive director and the NPAHH Board.
The biography recounts the life and extraordinary career of the editor of the North Platte Telegraph from 1967 to 1992. He wrote almost daily editorials and a weekly column titled Your Town and Mine for some 18 years until his death in 2010.
Blackledge was also a civic leader in North Platte and throughout Nebraska. Besides being the consummate newspaperman, he was uniquely interested in strengthening the relationship between eastern and western Nebraska as well as bridging the state’s urban and rural gap through his leadership on numerous boards and commissions at the state level. For example, he played an important role in the establishment of Nebraska Educational Telecommunications, helped create Humanities Nebraska, and in later life successfully fought for state legislation to preserve Nebraska’s historically significant buildings.
A more than eight-year project of research and writing, the biography incorporates stories culled from interviews, as well as thousands of editorials, columns and Blackledge’s personal papers and correspondence. Included is information and photographs covering his involvement in the merger of the North Platte two hospitals into Great Plains Health, the expansion of Mid-Plains Community College, the formation of the Lincoln County Historical Museum, to name a few.
The biography also presents new information about the crime, the court proceedings, and the aftermath relating to the United States Supreme Court landmark decision in Nebraska Press Association v. Stuart for it was Keith Blackledge who initially fought judges’ orders to gag Telegraph reporters during court proceedings involving a heinous, multiple murder occurring near North Platte in 1975.
NPAHH and its many volunteers are pleased to distribute this biography and hope readers statewide will enjoy reading Keith’s story.
