Question: For many years the old Lexington Leader had a front page feature called “Four Bits.” Who wrote it and what happened to the column? 

Answer: Your answer comes from retired associate editor of the Lexington Leader William Hanna.  The page one column that appeared on the lower left side of the page was written by Lexington Leader writer Joe Jordan who signed his column “Jay Jay” rather than using his real name.  Joe started writing the column in the late 1930s or early 40s and the column was very popular with the readers.  It consisted of four little bits of happenings in Lexington and the surrounding counties with lighthearted folksy news. Joe left the paper in the 1950s or 60s (not exactly sure when) and the column stopped. Executive editor Henry Hornsby then took over writing it for a while and changed its name to Cornered.  Finally, writer Bob Fain took over writing the column for several years. With the demise of the Lexington Leader, the column no longer ran in the paper. The Lexington Leader and Herald combined papers in 1983.

Linda Niemi

Filed under: Uncategorized