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He succeeded former Dayton Daily News outdoors writer Jim Robey and, like Robey, became a go-to and state-wide media source for all outdoors seasons. Morris was especially fond of fishing. His weekly fishing report on what was hitting at Lake Loramie, Rocky Fork, Cowan and Caesar Creek lakes and all shorelines between was must reading for those handy with a jig.
He was a radio regular on outdoors shows, extolling the business end of nightcrawlers, bass minnows, spinnerbaits and “rubber spiders tipped with waxworms” for best crappie and bluegill results.
He also was adept at raising an environmental red flag.
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Morris was among Ohio’s first media members to sound a toxic alarm about Grand Lake St. Marys.
The popular lake has since been labeled “impaired” by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.
Morris also was a regular at “The Grand,” and lamented the demise of the Amateur Trapshooting Association’s World Trapshooting Tournament on the Dayton International Airport grounds after 81 years. He wrote two books about the event that drew thousands of competitors throughout the country and generated more than $1 million to the local economy during its annual 12-day run.
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He also was at ease giving a grand-fatherly warning to Fourth of July boaters. “If you are the driver, lay off the booze,” he implored in his weekly outdoors column this summer. “Alcohol and boating are a disaster waiting to happen. And it goes without saying every soul on boat should wear a lifejacket.”
Jim is survived by his wife Pat, with whom he was married for 53 years, daughter Laura Martinsen of Partlow, Virginia, and son James Morris of Granger, Indiana.
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A viewing will be held from 1-3 p.m. Saturday at Fisher-Cheney Funeral Home in Troy. An open house at the Morris home will follow at 4 p.m. Interment will be at Walnut Hill Cemetery in New Hampshire, Ohio.
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