Michael C. Hayes, age 70, of West Lafayette, passed away unexpectedly on Sunday, November 24, 2024. He was born on November 10, 1954, in Coshocton, to John and Lois (Kinner) Hayes. Mike graduated from Ridgewood High School in 1973 and then worked part-time at the Post Office for several years in Fresno before being transferred […]
Mark Fortune
Mark Fortune, along with his wife Nancy, is the former owner and founder of The Coshocton County Beacon, the highest circulated newspaper in Coshocton County. He has over 40 years in the publishing business with sales, marketing, and journalism experience. After selling The Beacon to the AloNovus Corp., in January 2020, Mark has been a Business Development Strategist with the company. They publish a network of weekly news publications with almost a half million distribution weekly, a quarterly tourism magazine and a digital division. Mark enjoys
history, and has a passion for genealogy, currently researching and discovering his Fortune ancestry. He and his wife Nancy live on a small farm outside of Coshocton.
Mark Fortune's Latest Posts
The fair – and the shows – must go on
There’s a point in time each year in Coshocton County, as the leaves start turning, the hummingbirds head south, the gardens have produced their last tomato, that many of us – I dare say most – start thinking about the Coshocton County Fair. The sights, the smells, the chance to meet up with friends old […]
You know the year is abnormal when Brady dons a different uniform
Someone asked me over the weekend what was wrong with the Tribe – as in, The Cleveland Indians. I said, “I don’t know, I thought they were rolling.” Well, I guess not. Somehow, the Indians have went on a six-game losing streak – and are now in third place behind the White Sox and the […]
Just when you thought it was safe to return to?
Yep. Headlines are easier to write when you use clichés like this one. But I like it when you, the reader, can fill in the blanks. You could say, the water, a restaurant, the store, church, or any of a dozen other words. You get to choose! Hey, the Indians are on a six-game win […]
What a difference a year – a day – or an hour makes
You remember the old saying, “What a difference a year makes?” I think we can revise that phrase to a new one for modern “COVID-19 Pandemic” times – “What a difference an hour makes?” When I nestled into my comfy office chair last week with my plush teddy bear, a steaming mug of coffee and […]
Is being forced to change a good thing?
They say that change brings opportunity and can open new doors. In what is probably the biggest understatement of my 10 plus years of writing this column, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced all of us to adopt new ways of doing things, letting go of traditions and adapting to new methods and habits. Ordering groceries […]
Tales from the haymow
Reading David Marrison’s Coshocton County Ag & Natural Resources newsletter this week, particularly the section that he wrote for the Farm & Dairy paper with memories of making hay brought back my own fond memories of that summertime chore. It especially brought forth memories of my mom and dad at the farm. Mom and Dad […]
Could our ‘new normal’ be the new normal?
Some scientists are now beginning to wonder if the COVID-19 virus will ever go away or could it become the fifth of the strains of coronaviruses that are already endemic in humans. The official scientific nomenclature for this virus is SARS-CoV-2. Other coronaviruses can cause anything from the common cold to a severe disease like […]
Baseball is coming back with changes
As many of us continue to deal with slow or intermittent internet issues, dropped cell phone coverage and many other aspects of the ramped-up pace of working remotely, did we ever consider that COVID-19 would cause us to become more fractured and divided instead of bringing us closer together? Combine that with the riots and […]
