--Steve Bales resigned as publisher of the Port Lavaca Wave after 17 years and 21 years with parent company Hartman Newspapers. Tania French, general manager, was named interim publisher.

--Chris Barbee was promoted by company stockholders to serve as editor and publisher of the El Campo Leader-News, Wharton Journal-Spectator and East Bernard Express, a position his father, Fred V. Barbee Jr., held from July 1, 1968, until his death Oct. 2, 2007. Both Barbees served as president of Texas Press Association — Chris in 1991-92 and Fred in 1978-79.

--Kelli Baxter has been named general manager of Van Zandt Newspapers LLC. She succeeds Linda Nielsen who retired after 11 years. Baxter has been with the East Texas group since 2005 most recently as business manager and production supervisor.

--Dale Bentley joined The Vindicator in Liberty as desk editor and reporter.

At sister newspaper the Anahuac Progress, Theresa Barrett was named general manager. She had been office manager and advertising representative.

--Hollis Biddle retired after 55 years at the Waco Tribune-Herald. He was honored by the Texas Sports Hall of Fame. He started as a copy boy, then was a sportswriter and assistant sports editor.

--Pam Pepper Bouray joined the Fort Stockton Pioneer as page composer. She previously worked in marketing.

-- James Campbell retired after 20 years at the Houston Chronicle where he most recently was reader’s representative since 2002. He began his career writing for black newspapers such as the Forward Times and Houston Informer. He joined The Houston Post in 1985.

-- Larry Cathey joined The Paris News as sports writer. He was a reporter at a Michigan daily.

-- David Claybourn received the Texas Amateur Athletic Federation Contributors Appreciation Award in Corpus Christi. He is the sports editor of the Greenville Herald-Banner.

-- Don Clayton is the new publisher of The Marlin Democrat.

-- The Cleveland Advocate hired two new employees.

Kathleen Hillman, a reporter, earned a degree in print journalism from the University of Mississippi.

Darius Brown, sports reporter, earned an accounting degree from Oklahoma State University on a full football scholarship.

-- Nelson Clyde IV has been named publisher of the Tyler Morning Telegraph and the Sunday Tyler Courier Times-Telegraph.

He had been associate publisher for two years. He replaces his father Nelson Clyde III, who died Aug. 29.

Andrew Clyde was named chief operating officer. He had been vice president of production.

-- Ken Esten Cooke, fourth generation of a newspaper family that has operated The Rockdale Reporter since 1911, has been named publisher and managing editor. He succeeds his father, J.W. “Bill” Cooke, who joined the paper in 1959 as news and sports editor and has been publisher since 1971. Bill Cooke will continue to work part-time.

Kathy Cooke Martin, Ken Cooke’s sister, has been named assistant publisher and advertising director.

Ken Cooke had been general manager for five years. He and Kathy Cooke had been on staff for 12 years.

Bill Cooke and his father, W.H. Cooke, formed a partnership in 1971 and Bill Cooke purchased his father’s interest in 1984. W.H. Cooke’s father, John Esten Cooke, purchased The Reporter in 1911. John Esten Cooke was TPA’s 1920-21 president.

-- Colleen Doggett is a new staff writer for The Light & Champion in Center. She most recently was a teacher in Fort Bend for 40 years.

-- Mike Eddleman, Sealy News publisher, and his wife Kelly welcomed their daughter Marissa Grace into the world Sept. 17, 2007, in Austin. She weighed 8 pounds, 12 ounces and was 21 inches long.

-- Barry Halvorson joined the Wharton Journal-Spectator and El Campo Leader-News as regional editor based in Wharton. He has more than two decades of experience including serving as bureau reporter for the Victoria Advocate.

-- Jessica Hawley-Jerome gave birth to Kenai Joseph, on Oct. 2, 2007. Hawley-Jerome is managing editor of the Bandera Bulletin.

-- Marcella Herndon joined The Diboll Free Press as a reporter. She came from Long Beach, Calif.

-- Laura Hipp is the newest reporter at the Austin Business Journal. She came from The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Miss. She also worked at The Eagle in Bryan College Station.

-- Mark Horvit is the new executive director of the Investigative Reporters and Editors, a national press group. Horvit was projects editor of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and has worked at the Corpus Christi Caller-Times and The Houston Post.

-- The Houston Chronicle named two new sports columnists — Steve Campbell and Jerome Solomon.

-- The Jackson County Herald Tribune added two new employees — Veronica Salazar as sports editor and Tammy Morton as part-time reporter. Salazar has been covering local sports for the past two years.

-- Leia Jobe joined the Cleburne Times Review as courts and county reporter. She took over for Misty Schulz who left for another job. Jobe is a former summer intern.

-- Melissa Johnson, Seguin Gazette-Enterprise news editor, left to take a position with her alma mater, Texas State University-San Marcos in marketing. She will be replaced by Misty Sweet, who was editor of the Dripping Springs Century-News.

-- Kilgore College’s The Flare newspaper dedicated its new lab furniture in memory of longtime Kilgore News-Herald editor Winston Gardner. He worked at the newspaper from 1937 until 1983.

-- Carol Kothmann was promoted to managing editor of the Uvalde Leader-News. She had been assistant editor for four years. She replaced Chris Cole.

-- Bret McCabe is a new advertising representative for the Colorado County Citizen.

-- Roxanne McKnight joined the The Madisonville Meteor. She has 14 years of writing experience.

-- Rachel McReynolds was promoted to features editor at the Killeen Daily Herald. She had been copy editor since May 2006.

-- George John Maslovar pleaded guilty to one count of interstate receipt of child pornography. He faces between five and 20 years in prison. Maslovar was arrested in June after two images and a video of young female children were found on his home computer. He was a former employee at the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal who resigned after being confronted with an internal investigation about his work computer.

-- Rex Maynor will become vice president of sales and marketing for the Gulf Coast and Bluegrass divisions of Community Newspaper Holdings Inc., which covers 11 papers in Texas, two in Mississippi and eight in Kentucky. Maynor was publisher of The Huntsville Item.

-- Scott Moon joined The Galveston County Daily News as director of advertising. He came from Houston Community Newspapers and has worked at the Austin American-Statesman, DFW Suburban Newspapers, Abilene Reporter-News and Harte-Hanks in Plano.

-- Dan Moore was named marketing manager for the Kilgore News Herald and three sister weeklies. Moore will be responsible for sales throughout parent company Bluebonnet Publishing. Moore is the former publisher of the Lindale News & Times.

-- Kim Nussbaum is the new president and publisher of the Abilene Reporter-News. Nussbaum previously was vice president of sales and marketing and had been in charge of advertising sales since 2004. She previously worked for the Wichita Falls Times Record News.

-- Carolyn Potts is the new editor of the Mart Messenger. She returned after a four-year hiatus and once owned the newspaper.

-- John Razook is the new sports writer for the Aransas Pass Progress and Ingleside Index.

Sarah Upton joined the sister papers to handle general office work, Web site maintenance and sales.

-- Kaycee Smith joined the Lake Country Sun in Graford as staff writer.

-- Rosemary Smith joined The Navasota Examiner as managing editor. Smith was a reporter at the Freestone County Times.

-- Today Newspapers made changes to its management and ownership.

Angel Morris was promoted to managing editor from news editor for Cedar Hill Today, DeSoto Today and Duncanville Today. Morris has an 11-year history with Today Newspapers.

Morris replaced Robin Gooch who retired Sept. 18. With Gooch’s retirement, advertising director and co-owner Kim Petty became the sole owner of the company. Petty and Gooch became co-owners in May 2006. Petty joined Today in 1993.

Former editor Steve Snyder returned as news editor of Cedar Hill Today. He previously worked for Today for seven years.

-- Debbie Toliver returned to the Gonzales Inquirer as ad director.

-- Doug Toney, editor and publisher of The Herald-Zeitung in New Braunfels, has been elected to a three-year term on the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association Foundation Board of Trustees.

-- Wesley R. Turner, president and publisher of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram for 10 years, has announced his retirement at the end of the year. Turner started in 1975. In 1987, he moved to California as president of PennySaver. In 1990, he became executive vice president and general manager of The Kansas City Star.

Gary Wortel, president and publisher of The Sun News in Myrtle Beach, S.C., was named Turner’s successor. Wortel has been vice president of advertising and marketing at the St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press; display ad manager and ad director at The (Nashville) Tennessean; and in marketing at the San Jose Mercury-News.

-- Carroll Wilson is the new managing editor of the Temple Daily Telegram. Wilson worked for the Wichita Falls Times Record News for 24 years, including the past 12 as editor, before leaving in June.

-- Keven Ann Willey received the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas’ James Madison Award for work on the record votes issue. Willey is vice president and editorial page editor for The Dallas Morning News.

-- William V. Wilkerson, 2007 print journalism graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, is covering high school athletics for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He is a fourth generation newspaper man — great grandfather, J.C. Wilkerson, published The Comanche Chief; great grandmother, Katherine Blanton, was society editor of Temple Daily Telegram; grandparents, Judy and Bill Wilkerson, co-publish the Pleasanton Express; and father, David Wilkerson, was editor of the Pleasanton Express.