Newsmakers

The Amarillo Globe-News announced a change in a top editorial post.
Catherine A. Martindale was named corporate editor of Augusta, Ga.-based Morris Communications.
She succeeded Andra T. Eanes, who retired the post Aug. 31 after 33 years. Prior to the appointment Martindale was executive editor of the Amarillo Globe-News for 15 years.
Ralph Routon was named her replacement. He came from the Northwest Florida Daily News in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., where he was editor since May 2001. Before that he spent 24 years at the Colorado Springs Gazette.

Maggie Beasley joined the Elgin Courier as a reporter and photographer. She most recently worked for the Lexington Leader.

The Big Spring Herald added two experienced staff members to the news team.
Marsha Allen took over the features editor position. She has 30 years of experience and was a photojournalist and public information officer in the U.S. Marine Corps.
Thomas Jenkins returned to the staff as government reporter after five years as anchor and bureau chief for a television station and in private business. Jenkins replaced Roger Cline, who left to pursue other interests.

Tina Brown joined People Newspapers as an opinion columnist. She has more than 25 years of journalism experience including editor of Conde Nast’s Vanity Fair magazine. In 1992 she joined The New Yorker as the publication’s first woman editor. In 2003 she landed her own television show on CNBC, a quarterly roundtable discussion that debuted April 30.

The Corpus Christi Caller-Times announced two staff changes.
Steve Jordan joined as circulation director. He came from the Houston Chronicle where he was circulation manager for the city’s west side for two years. He has worked in circulation for Hearst Corp. since 1997 and started his career in 1986 at the Caller-Times and worked at the Abilene Reporter-News.
Shane M. Fitzgerald is the new managing editor. He came from the Rocky Mountain News in Denver where he served in management roles for 15 years, most recently as newsroom production director. Both newspapers are owned by the E.W. Scripps Co.

The Daily Court Review in Houston announced two staff additions.
Linda Fisher is the new director of new business development. She came from Rainmakers Media Management and Production, Inc. of Houston. Nabeel Jaitapker is the new editor. He is the former editor of The Shorthorn, UT-Arlington.

Joey Dauben has been appointed to the Midlothian Independent School District’s Districtwide Education Improvement Committee, a group that recommends changes in education to the school board. Dauben is a reporter for the Ellis County Press. He lost a May school board election by only 19 votes and in 2002 received 4 percent of the vote in a three-way race.

Karla DeLuca is the new editor and publisher of the Nacogdoches Daily Sentinel. She came from the managing editor position at the Marshall News Messenger.

Johnie Dell Foley, a sports writer and columnist for the Jewett Messenger for many years, accepted a full-time job teaching and coaching at Leon Junior High. He had worked 17 years at the Texas Department of Corrections where he was recreation department supervisor.

Bud Force is a new reporter at the Marlin Democrat. He recently graduated from Texas A&M University with a degree in journalism.

Richard Greene was promoted to assistant to the publisher of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He will retain his current role as operations manager for the advertising department.

Judy Greenlee returned after an eight-year absence to become managing editor of the Malakoff News. She started full time in 1995 as a writer, photographer and sales representative but left after a year when her college hours increased.

Giselle Greenwood joined the Austin Business Journal as a regional reporter covering Hays and Williamson counties. She came from VentureWire, a New York service where she wrote about private equity business and before that worked in communications for the city of Houston.

Daphne Hereford has been promoted to managing editor of the Houston County Courier. She was a reporter for two years.

The Houston Chronicle announced several changes in newsroom leadership.
Kyrie O’Connor has been named deputy managing editor for features, succeeding Susan Bischoff, who has been promoted to associate editor.
In her three decades at the Chronicle, Bischoff served as reporter and business editor before moving to features. She assumed the deputy managing editor role in 2000. On Sept. 17 Bischoff was inducted into the American Association of Sunday & Features Editors Hall of Fame.
O’Connor comes to the Chronicle from the Hartford (Conn.) Courant, which she joined in 1989 and most recently served as assistant managing editor.
Renee Kientz has been named Chronicle features editor. Kientz joined the paper in 1990 as lifestyle editor and before that worked for D Magazine, the Houston Post and San Angelo Standard-Times.

Melissa Ward Aguilar has been promoted to deputy features editor. Aguilar joined the Chronicle in 1982 and has served in a number of positions, including entertainment editor and, most recently, Sunday features editor.

Steve Israel is a new reporter for the Texas Jewish Post in Dallas. He is a former copy editor of The Wall Street Journal and staff writer at the Dallas Times Herald.

Norman Johnson retired his pens and pencils after 26 years as a sports cartoonist for the Midland Reporter-Telegram. His cartoon about local high school football games ran every Friday beginning in 1976. He even submitted the cartoons weekly after moving from Texas to Denver and later to Alaska.

Blake Lacewell is the new sports editor of the Moore County News-Press. He began his sports journalism career as a football stringer for The Bryan/College Station Eagle and was sports editor for the Boerne Star.

Dale Leach is the new Texas bureau chief for The Associated Press. He came from the same statewide post in Washington and joined AP in 1981, serving as reporter, news editor and assistant bureau chief in Ohio and bureau chief in Albuquerque, N.M. Leach replaced John Lumpkin, who recently was named one of four regional vice presidents.

Charlotte-Anne Lucas became content director for MySanAntonio.com, the joint Web site for the San Antonio Express-News and Belo’s KENS-TV. She was business editor of the Express-News in the late 1990s and was a business and politics writer at The Dallas Morning News.

Jennifer Mills completed her one-year scholarship commitment as a reporter and weekly columnist at the Ennis Daily News.

Brian K. Murphy was promoted to news editor of the Wilson County News. He previously worked six years as general assignments reporter and sports editor at the newspaper. He will oversee the newsroom and will continue news and sports reporting duties.

The Navasota Examiner announced two staff changes.
Hank Hargrave was named full-time editor and publisher. He spent the last eight-plus years at The Madisonville Meteor. When Navasota Publications Inc. purchased the Examiner in August 2002, Hargrave was named vice president of the ownership group and assumed a consultant-type role with the newspaper. He was named publisher of the Examiner and president of the company in December 2002.
Clay Morgan, editor and general manager, left the Examiner to become the new managing editor of The Boerne Star, which also is affiliated with Granite Publications. Before coming to Navasota in December 2002 Morgan worked for newspapers in Mississippi.
Nicole S. Wheatley was named as interim publisher at the Meteor until a permanent replacement for Hargrave is named. In March she was promoted to editor of the Meteor and previously worked at The Sealy News, which also is affiliated with Granite, and was editor of The Portland News.

Joshua Parrott was hired as a full-time sports writer after convincing editors at the Abilene Reporter News that he could handle the job while attending Abilene Christian University full time. Last year Parrott worked four part-time jobs with a full-time class load for his major in journalism. He also served a summer internship at sister newspaper the San Angelo Standard Times.

Ruth Potts has been named personnel manager of The Beaumont Enterprise. She joined the staff 17 years ago and has been staff accountant.

Shalina Ramirez added her byline to the Jacksonville Daily Progress where she became the newest city reporter. She most recently was an online copy editor at the Tyler Morning Telegraph.

Peter Rogers, publisher of the Orange Leader, has been named publisher of The North Platte (Neb.) Telegraph. Twenty of Rogers’ 27 years in the newspaper industry have been as a publisher including the Democrat Messenger in Waynesburg, Pa., and The Dickinson (N.D.) Press.

The San Antonio Express-News hired its first writing coach and named a new advertising chief. The newspaper also has launched the Dan Cook Scholarship for Sports Writing to honor the sports writing legend who retired recently. The endowment raised $40,000 in one night at a dinner honoring Cook. Robert L. Kaiser joined the staff as assistant managing editor/news and is the newspaper’s first writing coach. Kaiser spent the past six and a half years at the Chicago Tribune. Sergio Salinas was named senior vice president of advertising. He was head of the advertising department at the Daily Oklahoman in Oklahoma City. He also worked at the San Antonio Light and The Dallas Morning News.

Jake Shaw is the new sports editor of the Corsicana Daily Sun. He came from the same post at the Bonham Journal.

W. Leon Smith, publisher of The Clifton Record, was a panelist on the session “Who’s the Client?: Holding Public Officials Accountable to FOI Laws” held during the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas’ annual conference in September. Smith, who serves a mayor of Clifton, discussed how the city handles open record requests and potential conflicts of interest.

Nadine Stobaugh has joined Texas Press Association as the coordinator for the Texas Statewide Classified Advertising Network (TexSCAN) and the Texas 2x2 Network. She replaced Jan Morgan, who relocated to Albuquerque, N.M. Stobaugh recently moved to Austin from southern California where she worked many years as a graphic designer. Most recently she was production manager for six years with James Publishing, a publisher of legal books and magazines.

Dolph Tillotson of The Galveston County Daily News, won first place in the under 50,000-circulation category of the Carmage Walls Commentary Prize sponsored by Southern Newspaper Publishers Association. Tillotson’s package covered possible conflicts of interest between the International Longshoremen’s Association and the elected body of the public. Honorable mention went to Heber Taylor, editor of the News, for a series of editorials questioning the cost of expanded emergency services.

Ana Pecina Walker is the new editor of the Longview News-Journal. Walker has been with the paper for 13 years, most recently as managing editor. She succeeds Pete Litterski, who became senior editor.

Don Wallace joined the Rusk Cherokeean Herald. He worked 20 years at the Jacksonville Daily Progress as reporter and photographer and for the last year has been assistant editor and ad rep for the Frankston Citizen.