Local News

Gen. James T. Conway, commandant of the United States Marine Corps, urged Campbellsville University's graduates to expect the unexpected, be bold and daring and to take care of others before self as he spoke to the 212 students receiving undergraduate degrees during commencement May 10 at Finley Stadium.

A total of 323 students received academic degrees upon completion of all graduation requirements during two commencement ceremonies Friday and Saturday, May 9-10. There were 111 master's degrees conferred May 9, and 212 undergraduate degrees conferred May 10.

Maxine Hitch has found herself in tough spots before.

Disabled and unable to work, Hitch said times are often tight. Though her four children are now grown and living on their own, Hitch has been raising her great-great-grandson Jonathan, 4, since he was 5 months old.

"I got in hard spots, but I always try to pay my bills first."

It could be a struggle, Hitch said, but, thanks to Lake Cumberland Community Action, she gets by.

Cathy Pike was home with her youngest son, Devin, 8, when the alarm sounded. Her other son, 17-year-old Tyler, was not at home.

"I was sitting in the living room and the smoke detector went off," Pike said.

She got up to investigate, saw one of the rooms on fire, grabbed her son and left the house. She didn't have time to attempt to rescue any of her family's belongings.

"We lost everything."

Without an alarm, Campbellsville Fire Chief Allen Johnson said, it could have been worse.

"It definitely did alert them and help them get out," Johnson said.

It was a day that changed his life forever. He walked into Taylor Regional Hospital's emergency room suffering chest pains, nausea and other telltale signs of a heart attack.

Frightened and in pain, Dan Durham admits he may not have been the best patient the morning of June 6, 2005. That didn't stop hospital staff from giving him the best of care.