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Is it Tammy or Tami? Brian or Bryan? Beverly Gabel has learned that such details are very important. For years, she has been responsible for getting the Seneca County Fair results into the pages of The Advertiser-Tribune.

In 1999, Gabel started working at the A-T as a part-time clerk. When another employee, Norma Babcock, wanted to cut back a bit, Gabel filled in by typing the lists of junior and senior fair winners.

Gabel must start with pre-fair judging results the weekend before the Seneca County Fair even opens.

"I also do the results for the rodeo and the horse pull. Jill (Gosche) does the tractor pull and the sports guys do the harness racing," Gabel said.

The number of events varies from eight to 20 each day. During livestock judging, Gabel said she lists five places in each class. Having worked for 28 years as secretary for the Seneca County office of Ohio State University Extension, Gabel had plenty of practice compiling mailing lists and rosters before coming to the newspaper.

"I love working with names," she said, "but the spelling of names has changed. I tend to use the traditional versions."

Many spelling variations, even for simple names, have become popular. Now, she must depend on the 4-H advisers to submit the correct spellings in the results. Even they have been known to make mistakes, or their handwriting may be difficult to read. When Gabel wants to double-check for good measure, someone in the Junior Fair office can get lists of 4-H members for her. The Senior Fair office helps with names of adult competitors.

In the past, many of the results were not published until the fair was over. Gabel said when she first started preparing results, she had to find some of the advisers to get the information in a timely fashion to meet her deadline for the next day's paper. After a while, they knew to have them ready for her.

"They would see me coming and say, 'Here she comes again.' Now, I have the results in a few hours, usually the same day, or sometimes the next day," Gabel said. "I appreciate the cooperation I get from the superintendents."

Technology is another factor that speeds up the process. Instead of bringing lists of winners back to the newspaper office to be typed, Gabel can create an e-mail file right at the fair office and send it electronically to the paper. That saves travel time and enables the editor to cut and paste the results into the system and onto a page.

Born and raised on a farm in Bloomville, Gabel and her husband still live on the property. She is a graduate of Bloomville High School. She said she was involved with 4-H for 10 years, doing dairy projects, sewing and cooking. At that time, she had to join a different club for each project.

"The clubs used to be divided by the type of projects. Now they can do all kinds of projects in one club," Gabel said.