Newsmakers

Recent staff changes, additions and promotions at Texas newspapers, reported in the September 2023 edition of the Texas Press Messenger.

SAM SCINTA JR.

Wharton Journal-Spectator

WHARTON – Sam Scinta Jr. is the new managing editor of the Wharton Journal-Spectator.

Scinta came to the Journal-Spectator after serving as sports editor at the Fort Bend Herald in Rosenberg. At the Herald, he directed coverage of Lamar CISD and Needville ISD athletics, producing game review and feature stories.

Originally from the Chicago area, Scinta grew up in the St. Louis Metro East suburb of O’Fallon, Illinois, near Scott Air Force Base, where his father served with the 126th Air Refueling Wing of the Illinois Air National Guard.

He attended college at the University of Kansas, where he originally studied music education under longtime saxophone professor Dr. Vince Gnojek before making the change to journalism. While at KU, Sam played alto saxophone with the Marching Jayhawks and KU Basketball Band programs and was also a member of the service fraternity Kappa Kappa Psi.

After college, Scinta worked for editor/publisher Nick Miller at the O’Fallon Weekly newspaper in his hometown. While at the Weekly, he oversaw sports coverage of O’Fallon Township High School and also produced live video streams with play-by-play broadcasts of O’Fallon Panther football, baseball, basketball and hockey.

In 2018, he moved from Illinois to the small town of Napoleon, Ohio, outside of Toledo, where he worked as the assistant sports editor at the Northwest Signal newspaper under veteran sports editor Jeff Ratliff. He covered sports in Henry County for two years until the COVID-19 pandemic, when he moved to Phoenix, Arizona and worked briefly in real estate.

A new opportunity came in the summer of 2022 when he moved to Texas and started at the Fort Bend Herald under executive editor Scott Willey, first as a reporter before being promoted to sports editor in January.

KENT MILLER

Greenville Herald-Banner

GREENVILLE – Kent Miller is the new editor of the Herald-Banner in Greenville, the Rockwall County Herald-Banner and the Royce City Herald-Banner.

Miller has held newsroom leadership positions in several Texas communities, including Mesquite, Terrell, Rockwall County and The Colony.

He has been recognized by the Texas Press Association and the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors for editorial writing, column writing, feature writing, sports coverage, page design and photography.

A University of North Texas alumnus, Miller served as a graduate teaching assistant at the UNT Mayborn School of Journalism in Denton.

Publisher Lisa Chappell announced the appointment, noting Miller’s “editorial, digital and leadership experience, combined with his talent and enthusiasm, will prove him to be a great asset to all of our Herald-Banner publications as well as the communities we serve.”

MELISSA CANTU TREVINO

Scripps News

ALICE - Melissa Cantu Trevino has started a new endeavor as a multi-media journalist for Scripps News.

She previously served as managing editor of the Alice Echo-News Journal. She joined the newspaper in October 2014 as a reporter and became managing editor in 2019.

Trevino is a native of San Diego and a 2002 graduate of San Diego High School. She earned an associate of arts from Coastal Bend College in 2010 and a bachelor of arts in communications with a specialty in journalism from Texas A&M University - Kingsville in 2014.

Sarah Reyna is serving as interim editor until a replacement is found.

MELISSA THERIOT

Brenham Banner-Press

BRENHAM - Melissa Theriot has joined the advertising staff of the Brenham Banner Press.

She came to Brenham from the Colorado County Citizen where she had been a sales representative and marketing consulting since 2021. She has been involved in advertising for most of her career.

Prior to the Citizen, Theriot worked for company in Sealy for seven years, handling online sales and visual promotions. She also has three years experience with the Sealy News as a sales consultant. In addition to sales, she has experience in accounts receivable.

Publisher Jeff Para announced the appointment as an expansion of the advertising department, noting Theriot is “an experienced advertising representative who knows how to work with our customers as well as seek out new ones.”

NEIL ABELES

Cass County Citizens Journal Sun

ATLANTA – Longtime news reporter Neil Abeles returned to the Atlanta Journal after 30 years. Abeles had been covering Cass County news for the Texarkana Gazette.

A native of Paris, Texas, Abeles attended Southwestern University in Georgetown majoring in philosophy and later went to graduate school at Vanderbilt University Divinity School, where he graduated in 1965. After teaching at prep school in New England for five years, he returned to Texas and became a writer for the Atlanta newspaper.

Over the years, he has worked for the Texarkana Gazette as education reporter and as editor for the Atlanta Citizens Journal. He also spent 20 years as public information director for Texas A&M University-Texarkana.

After retirement from the university, he began writing for the Texarkana Gazette’s Cass County News section in 2007.

Abeles said he has returned to the Journal “to be close to this community, relax a bit more.”