Bob Batz has been writing for newspapers for 50 years. Batz, 68, began his writing career as a copy boy at The Flint (Mich.) Journal in 1958. He later was a feature writer at the Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat & Chronicle and The Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal. He joined the staff at The Dayton Daily News in 1970 and retired from that newspaper in January 2007. In the 1980s, Batz was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for a series of newspaper stories he wrote on Alzheimer’s disease. He later wrote a play titled "Long Goodbyes" that was staged on two different occasions by the Brookville Community Theatre. Batz and his wife Sally have been married for almost 45 years. Both are members of the Brookville Fire Department, which they joined in 1975. Both are EMTs and Sally is a former paramedic. In 2007, Bob and Sally were named Brookville’s “Citizens of the Year” by the local Chamber of Commerce. The Batzes have four children, seven grandchildren, a mortgage, two cars, crabgrass and a four-pound dog named Matilda. For the past 10 years Sally has been administrative secretary to the Brookville fire chief. Since Bob’s retirement, he has continued as an adjunct journalism professor at the University of Dayton where he has taught feature writing, media writing and sports writing for 24 years. He also serves as Public Information Officer for the Brookville Fire Department and Public Relations Liaison for the Butler Township Fire Department.