Newsmakers - December 2014

BOB BEAL - The Fort Stockton Pioneer

Bob Beal was hired as a reporter for The Fort Stockton Pioneer. Frank Rodasky’s recent promotion to managing editor had left the position vacant. Rodasky continues to share reporting duties with Beal and with sports reporter Remie Ramos. 

Executive editor and Publisher Pam Palileo said the news side of the paper was understaffed for the last five months. “We’re still short one half-time position in advertising sales,” said Palileo. However, she indicated that readers will benefit from a full news staff. “We have a backlog of features to get to,” she said. 

Beal is brushing the dust off of a journalism degree he received from the University of Georgia 38 years ago. He continued observing the media throughout those years. 

As a citizen advocate, he interacted with reporters and editors in Baltimore, MD; Boise, ID; Eugene, OR; and Yakima, WA.

Community journalism brings Beal full circle. “When I graduated from journalism school,” Beal said, “my dad advised me to ‘go to a small town to get started.’ It was great advice and I’m heeding it. At 60 years old, I feel  I’ve done enough and know enough now to bear down and begin the process of mastering this craft. It’s also the quickest way I can imagine to get to know my new stomping grounds.”

Beal and his wife moved to Fort Stockton last April. She is from Terlingua, attended high school and undergraduate college in Alpine, and is a Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center registered nurse at the James A. Lynaugh Unit. Individually and then together for the last 15 years, they have lived in many different parts of the country. 

ALESIA DAVIS - The Eagle Lake Headlight

Alesia Davis has been named managing editor of the Eagle Lake Headlight, which was announced by owner Bruce Beal. She has worked for the newspaper for the past three and a half years. 

“We are pleased to announce that Alesia will head up the newspaper operation at the Headlight,” Beal said. “She has an excellent work record with the newspaper in the past and we look forward to her contributions to the Headlight in her new position.” 

Davis was raised in Eagle Lake. She graduated from Rice High School and has a degree in Psychology.

BONNIE GONZALEZ - Dripping Springs Century-News

The Dripping Springs Century-News is pleased to introduce Bonnie Gonzalez as editor. Gonzalez is originally from the Beaumont area and graduated from the University  of St. Thomas with a bachelor’s degree in Communications. 

Once out of college, Gonzalez reported for KLAX in Alexandria, Louisiana before she moved to Austin in 2008. “I understand that at the heart of this community is our amazing school district. As a mother and a neighbor, I look forward to spreading the good news about our kids and their accomplishments,” Gonzalez said. “I’m so grateful for the opportunity to tell stories about the community I have fallen in love with.”

HEBER TAYLOR - Galveston County Daily News

Editor Heber Taylor will retire from The Daily News just before the new year, the newspaper announced. Taylor, 59, joined the staff in 1991. 

He was named managing editor in 1996 and editor shortly thereafter.

Taylor, who plans to stay in Galveston, said he had made lifelong friends at the newspaper and was excited about its leadership and its future.

“There’s gloom and doom in a lot of this industry,” Taylor said. “But The Daily News is indisputably healthy, full of energy, growing and creating new publications. It needs an editor with at least a five-year commitment, and I’m just at a different stage in my life.”

Daily News Publisher Leonard Woolsey said Taylor was “a friend, a beacon of trust and a proud defender of our journalistic calling.”

“It is with bittersweet emotions I share with you that our friend, Heber Taylor, will retire from The Daily News later this year,” said Woolsey. “As we all know, Heber has helped make The Daily News the strong and respected newspaper it is today. His retirement — the opportunity to spend more time with his wife Dale -— is something we should celebrate in our hearts.” 

The newspaper did not announce a replacement, but Woolsey said he anticipated no disruption in news operations during the transition.