November 2002, News Briefs |
Bonham closes doors after century of news
BONHAM — The Bonham Favorite printed its final edition Oct. 30 and closed its doors after more than a century of covering Fannin County news. Two other publications planned to open a week later.
The newspaper began in 1889 as the Fannin Favorite and in 1892 expanded with the addition of the Bonham Daily Favorite. The Fannin Favorite eventually bought the Bonham News and combined the papers into the Daily Favorite.
In August 1999 the Bonham daily went semiweekly. TPA 1964-65 president Aubrey McAlister once owned the daily.
Community Newspaper Holdings Inc. was the most recent owner and made the decision to close the newspaper. The Alabama-based company owns 17 dailies and two weeklies in Texas and dozens more in other states.
Only a week after the closure two groups announced plans to launch weeklies in Bonham.
Charles and Bethany Russell, owners of Russell Community Newspapers Inc., launched the Bonham News with a first edition Nov. 7. They are longtime Fannin County residents and own the nearby Leonard Graphic, which they said has been locally owned by a Leonard family since its founding in 1890.
The Bonham News will be published on Thursdays. Bethany Russell will head up the newspaper and Beth Anderson, lead reporter and assistant editor at the Graphic, will be assistant editor at the News.
American Consolidated Media, Inc. (ACM) of Dallas also announced the launch of the Bonham Journal, which publishes on Wednesdays. The weekly newspaper will be printed at ACM’s daily newspaper facility in Waxahachie.
Curt Middleton is publisher and editor. He was general manager and editor at the Bonham Favorite before the closure and earlier worked as editor at the Durant (Okla.) Daily Democrat. A group of former staffers also joined him at the new weekly.
ACM publishes five daily newspapers and 17 weekly and semiweekly ne
2 North Texas weeklies change ownership
LAKE DALLAS — After 17 years of ownership, Terry Lantrip sold the Lake Cities Sun and Argyle Sun to Mark Henry and Sean French on Nov. 1.
“The last 17 years have been quite an adventure,” Lantrip said. “The community support has been tremendous and it shows in the pages of every edition. While it’s sad to leave the newspapers, I know Mark and Sean will do a great job.”
Henry, a community newspaper veteran of more than 20 years, recently formed companies with French, whose newspaper career began in 1992. They formed Lake Cities Publications and assumed management and operation for both newspapers.
Henry and French also own the Zapata County News and The Sun in Flour Bluff.
Rickenbacher Media represented the seller in the transaction.
Granite buys Rosebud
ROSEBUD — On Nov. 1 John Killgore transferred ownership of The Rosebud News, which had been in his family for 73 years, to Milam County Newspapers, publishers of The Cameron Herald and the Thorndale Champion.
“This is really a good move for Rosebud,” said Killgore. “These people know how to run a small newspaper in a small community.”
Richard Stone, publisher of the Herald and the Champion, said the transaction was a good fit for Milam County Newspapers, which fall under the parent umbrella of Granite Publications.
Killgore’s father, J. Ralph Killgore, bought The Rosebud News in May 1929 from the W.L. Warrock family. Killgore and his five children took over from his brother, Jack, in January 1999.
The new owners will make some changes to the look and feel of the News.
Killgore retained the commercial printing part of the business, but the newspaper office will remain in the same location where it has been for 50 years.
Hartman buys Rockwall weekly
ROCKWALL — L&B Publishers Inc. sold the Rockwall County News to Hartman Newspapers Inc.
L&B principal owners are Larry Briscoe and Bill Slaughter. They also own the Tawakoni News in Quinlan, which was not part of the transaction.
The Rockwall County News was an outgrowth of the Royce City News and its offices were moved there to expand coverage countywide.
Hartman owns 15 other newspapers in Texas, including dailies in Brenham, Henderson, McKinney, Rosenberg and Terrell.
Rickenbacher Media represented the sellers in the transaction.
Kerrville presses hit snag with weekday run
KERRVILLE — The Kerrville Daily Times printed its Sept. 18 edition at the Fredericksburg Standard Radio Post after the folder on its printing press broke. The paper was delivered that afternoon to readers and subscribers and the press was back on-line that evening.
Lionheart changes name
DALLAS — Lionheart Newspapers, L.L.C. announced Nov. 6 its corporate holding company will change its name to American Community Newspapers, L.L.C. The company is the parent company of DFW Community Newspapers Inc., which publishes 14 newspapers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, including The Allen American, Celina Record, Frisco Enterprise, Little Elm Journal and daily Plano Star Courier.
Daily nixes weather columnist
SAN ANTONIO — The San Antonio Express-News no longer will publish columns by KENS-TV chief meteorologist Albert Flores after discovering the weatherman was plagiarizing his commentary.
While fact-checking his column, an editor found it had been copied from a military weather Web site, said managing editor Carolina Garcia. A spot check of previously published columns showed a substantial amount lifted from other Web sites, she said.
Flores acknowledged the plagiarism but said any potential harm was unintentional.
KENS general manager Bob McGann said Flores’ employment at the station officially ended Nov. 5, about a week after the columns were canceled. He declined to discuss the reasons for Flores’ departure.
AP now questions 40 articles
NEW YORK — The Associated Press sent a detailed correction list on 40 stories dating to 2000 in which the news organization says it cannot verify some sources.
The stories were written by Christopher Newton, a former Texas journalist who has worked for AP since 1994. AP said editors could not verify the existence of sources in the specific stories that covered topics ranging from terrorism to health care. Many Texas newspapers ran the stories.
Newton, a graduate of Texas Christian University, was dismissed Sept. 16 for questionable material in a story on crime statistics.
He maintains that the sources are real but has declined to provide names and numbers.
Top 4 report circulation gains
Texas’ four largest daily newspapers made gains or remained stable in the latest Audit Bureau of Circulations report.
The Houston Chronicle was on top with 552,052 daily and The Dallas Morning News was second with 525,532 daily. The News topped Sunday numbers with 784,905 to the Chronicle’s 744,935. San Antonio Express-News followed with 233,172 daily and 356,377 Sundays and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram was fourth with 231,894 daily and 322,593 Sundays. The Austin American-Statesman showed .3 percent loss in daily at 183,288 and 2.1 percent loss in Sunday numbers of 233,608.