John La Porte

John La Porte came to The Fort Morgan Times in 1973 after serving four years in the U.S. Air Force, all at Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota.

He worked in the service as a reporter for the base newspaper, a missile wing historian and as editor of the base newspaper.

In the Air Force, he received a letter of commendation from 15th Air Force for coverage of relations between first-term and career personnel, an outstanding rating on a history of a flood in Rapid City during which Air Force personnel provided emergency assistance, a certificate of appreciation for flood relief work and the Quill and Scroll award for the outstanding newspaper project at Defense Information School.

He has served at The Times as a reporter/photographer, sports editor and news editor.

Awards during his tenure at The Times include two Colorado Press Association Shining Star awards, a national American Publishing Co. sports story award, state news (co-authored sweepstakes winner in AP in 1995) and sports story and photo awards, state personal column and headline writing awards, Colorado Athletic Directors Association award for sports coverage, two Northeast Colorado UNISERV (teacher association) awards for educational reporting, two certificates from the Fort Morgan Board of Education for coverage of bond elections and a state community service award for bond election coverage.

He is a certified scuba diver and a member of the Morgan County Search and Rescue Team.

La Porte is a Dayton, Ohio native and graduate of the University of Dayton. His wife Paula is Morgan County director of Centennial Mental Health Center.