January 2005

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Newsmakers Ben E. Black retired after 15 years as managing editor of The Clarksville Times. He assumed duties Aug. 24, 1989. -- Virginia Barlow Beason, a retired judge of Gregg County and a longtime resident of East Texas, has joined the Big Sandy & Hawkins Journal staff and will serve as editor. Beason replaces Jerry Beeson (no relationship), who left the Journal to take another position with a non-newspaper company. -- The Cedar Creek Pilot said good-bye to its editor and hello to his replacement. Pilot editor since 2000 Michael V. Hannigan resigned to be closer to home so he can devote more attention to his teenage daughters. Jayson Larson replaced him. Larson has five years experience with two of the Pilot’s sister publications as a writer at the Athens Daily Review and as sports editor at the Corsicana Daily Sun. -- Jim Debth has been named general manager of statesman.com, the Internet arm of the Austin American-Statesman. Debth succeeds Larry Sanders, who became director of new business and site growth for Cox.net, the Internet arm of Cox Newspapers Inc., which owns the American-Statesman. -- A. Lee Graham, who covers local businesses for the Plano Star Courier, was named North Central Texas Work Force Media Member of the Year. -- Adan Guerrero took over as editor of La Frontera, the Spanish language newspaper published by The Monitor in McAllen and parent company Freedom Communications. Guerrero had been metro editor. Guerrero replaced Marcia Caltabiano-Ponce who returned to The Monitor with a promotion to deputy managing editor. -- The Kerrville Daily Times named three managers in the circulation department. Judy Rogers will serve as circulation accounting manager. Rogers has worked in circulation for five years. Shauna Smith will serve as distribution manager. Smith started in the mailroom and worked her way up to her present position. Sharon Rowland will continue as circulation sales manager. Rowland joined the staff in 2003 after working at The Mountain Sun formerly published in Kerrville. -- Dave McNeely, a veteran political reporter and columnist for the Austin American-Statesman, has retired. He had worked for the paper since 1978. McNeely plans to continue to write a syndicated political column for some Texas newspapers. -- Barry Peckham joined the Victoria Advocate as general manager. Prior to coming to the Advocate, Peckham spent 22 years working at The Dallas Morning News in a variety of positions, including comptroller and executive vice president. -- Rena Pederson, an editorial page editor for The Dallas Morning News, is retiring at the end of the year after more than 31 years with the paper. She led the editorial page for 17 years. She served as a Pulitzer Prize board member for nine years, and ended her tenure in April as co-chair. -- Al Pickett, a contributing writer to the Clyde Journal and Baird Banner, was named recipient of the 2004 outstanding media service award from the American Southwest Conference. Pickett also contributes to Dave Campbell’s Texas Football Magazine. -- Byron Riddle joined the Groesbeck Journal as a full-time member of the staff. He will cover sports and general news and write a sports column. -- George S. Smith, former publisher of the Marshall News-Messenger, has been named executive director of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association. Smith, who has more than 20 years of experience at weekly and daily papers in Arkansas, Alabama and Texas, most recently has been communications director for the Arkansas Department of Higher Education. -- Steven G. Watson is the new managing editor of The Boerne Star and Hill Country Recorder. Watson comes to Boerne from Philadelphia, Miss., where he was the assistant to the publisher at The Neshoba Democrat. The position of managing editor was temporarily filled by Kerry Barboza during the last two months. He will return to his job as sports editor. -- The Wichita Falls Times Record News reported that a 55-year-old female independent contractor selling copies of the daily was assaulted and robbed Dec. 8 at her longtime post at Seventh Street and Eastside Drive. A man punched the victim in the face and took $11 shortly before 6:30 a.m., according to a police report. The man fled in a maroon sedan. TRN Circulation Director Dwayne Bivona said there’s never been a problem like that before. “We’ve been having a lot of theft from our racks lately, and sadly this is the next step,” Bivona said.