Hank Drane, journalist who covered state politics, dead at 84

JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA - Hank Drane, an award-winning journalist who covered Florida politics for 27 years and has been described as a giant in Florida political reporting, died at age 84. <br> <br> Drane had been ill with Alzheimer&#39;s disease for 12 years and passed away Friday at his home in Longwood. <br> <br> ``He was a giant in Florida political journalism, but he was even a better human being than he was a reporter,&#39;&#39; said Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla. <br> <br> From 1955 until he retired Jan. 1, 1983, Drane covered every session of the Florida Legislature, all the gubernatorial and U.S. Senate campaigns, the presidential primaries and the national conventions of both parties for The Florida Times-Union. <br> <br> Drane was honored for outstanding coverage of the Legislature 10 years in a row, an award voted in secret ballot by the legislators themselves. <br> <br> He would announce his annual ``Heifer Dust&#39;&#39; award winners in a yearly column. The awards usually singled out state political figures for some dubious distinction. <br> <br> ``He really knew the political lay of the land, despite his laid-back, folksy Georgia way of writing,&#39;&#39; said John S. Walters, retired executive editor of the Times-Union. <br> <br> Drane frequently traveled around Florida and Georgia writing feature stories. In 1964, he spent five months covering the racial unrest in St. Augustine. <br> <br> Drane&#39;s investigative series in 1977 on 31 North Florida legislators&#39; campaign slush funds led to passage of a massive election reform bill restricting the amount and use of surplus campaign funds for all elected state officials. <br> <br> Drane graduated from the University of Georgia School of Journalism. He began his 36-year newspaper career in Louisiana and Georgia before moving to Jacksonville in 1955. <br> <br> In his Sunday columns, Drane often used a dateline of Bull Snort, Ga., a fictitious hamlet. When a bipartisan group in Jacksonville decided to form a monthly luncheon club, they named it the Bull Snort Forum. <br> <br> Survivors include his wife, daughter, sister and two grandchildren <br> <br> Funeral and burial are being planned for Monday in Union Point, Ga.