Have You Kissed Your Newspaper Carrier Today?

If you're considering canceling home delivery of your local newspaper, consider this first:

London (Kentucky)'s fire chief said he plans to give a Herald-Leader newspaper carrier an award for rousing a family of four during a house fire last week.

Paul Moyers, 61, was delivering papers in the Johnson Addition area just before 4 a.m. March 10 when he saw a fire on a wraparound porch, Chief Larry VanHook said.

While calling 911, Moyers beat on the windows trying to wake anyone who might be in the home, said Shirley Moyers, the driver's wife.

Michael Catching and his family, including a 9-month-old daughter, were sleeping in the same room after Catching's wife had had surgery the day before, VanHook said.

VanHook said Catching told him the family was exhausted after the surgery, and had slept through warnings from the home's smoke detectors.

"According to the guy that lives there, he heard somebody beating and banging and screaming and hollering," VanHook said.

VanHook said fire trucks were arriving to the scene just after the family got out of the house, and just as the fire began to enter the front rooms of the home.