Followed by millions of
readers in hundreds of newspapers across America since 2015, The Good
Folks of Lennox Valley is the story of growing up in a small farming
town during the spring and summer of 1998. Readers soon learn that
Lennox Valley was anything but quiet and peaceful in the spring and
summer of 1998. With Raymond Cooper converting the town's only radio
station to an "all talk" format in an effort to wage his unannounced
campaign for town mayor, things were bound to turn a little unorthodox.
Most folks considered Raymond a political nutcase. Cooper realized,
however, that nutcases tend to attract other nutcases, and such was the
case with his following. It didn't take him too long to realize it only
required 400 nut cases to win an election in The Valley, and that's just
what he intended to do. While Raymond was busy planning his secret
campaign, the good folks at the Methodist Church were in for a surprise
of their own. In May, they would learn the name of their soon-to-be
appointed pastor, Sarah Hyden-Smith, The Valley's first female
clergy person. Never one to miss a beat, Iris Long served as editor of
The Lennox Valley Hometown News. She knew Raymond Cooper was up to
something and she was determined to find out what it was. Cooper's
all-out war to discredit Iris divided The Valley between his supporters
and those who trusted the words of a seasoned journalist like Iris Long.
