Trending
PARKERSBURG -- A Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist who was scheduled to come to Parkersburg in October to speak is postponing her appearance until next spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Columnist Connie Schultz was scheduled to speak in the auditorium of the Blennerhassett Middle School on Oct. 14. Tickets had gone on sale locally.
Local attorney Richard Bush, who was organizing the speaking engagement through St. Paul's United Methodist Church's Yeager Endowment Fund, said the rising COVID numbers locally have prompted Schultz to postpone her appearance until possibly next March or April.
"She had become very concerned about being in a room with 800 people," Bush said of the rising number of COVID cases in the area and asked if it was possible to move it to the spring.
Bush said he has not talked to school officials yet to see if they would be able to reserve the school for the event then. He would also have to work with Schultz and her schedule to see if something can be scheduled.
"It will not be happening Oct. 14 and it it will be rescheduled to a date to be determined," he said.
A workshop with local high school students was also planned. It is not known yet if that can be rescheduled as well.
Bush said around 200-300 tickets have already been sold for the event at $5 a piece. He said ticket sales have been down because of the surge in COVID cases locally.
Bush said refunds are available at his office, 408 Juliana St, Parkersburg. People can call his office at 304-428-1144 for more information.
People will have to exchange their ticket for a refund. All refunds are being handled through his office, regardless of where the tickets were originally sold.
''If they bought it at Mulberry Lane, they still need to come to my office for a refund,'' he said.
Bush hopes Schultz will still be able to eventually come to the area to speak.
Schultz is a nationally syndicated columnist who appears in newspapers all over the country, including the Parkersburg News and Sentinel. She won the Pulitzer in 2005 for commentary for her columns.
Schultz won the Robert F. Kennedy Award for Social Justice Reporting as well as the Batten Medal for her work. She is currently a professor in residence at Kent State University School of Journalism.
She has written three books. "Life Happens" is a collection of essays. "And His Lovely Wife" is a memoir about her husband's successful race in 2006 for the U.S. Senate. She is married to U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio. Her first novel, "Daughters of Erietown" is on the New York Times best seller's list.
Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com