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Articles from the Texas Press Messenger monthly newspaper, the official publication of Texas Press Association.
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Texas newspapers lost a longtime supporter and friend this month. Robert W. “Butch” Burns, 61, of Stephenville died Aug. 8 in Fort Worth.
Burns has contributed much to Texas newspapers over the years. He served as finance director for the North and East Texas Press Association Board of Directors. He also served 15 years on the West Texas Press Association Board of Directors.
TPA presented Burns with a special “Friend of TPA” award at the 2010 Midwinter Conference and Trade Show in January for his many years of loyalty to the association.
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Regional press associations offer unique experience
By Bob Brincefield, TPA President
The first official duty on the calendar for the new TPA president is attending the summer convention of the West Texas Press Association. The event was a good way for me to begin my tenure. Carol and I have made many friends since we became members of the regional association and attending their convention is something we look forward to each year. 
Three weeks into the job I didn’t have much to report to the group, but having Dwight McKenzie and Joel Allis from the TPA office in attendance gave me the opportunity to talk about how TPA staff members are available to help member newspapers with advice, training and technical assistance.
Later, during the ride home I was struck by the uniqueness of the press association landscape in Texas. The two previous states where I have worked had one press association. There are seven in Texas. The two statewide organizations TPA and the Texas Daily Newspaper Association are somewhat atypical by themselves, but when five regional associations are added to the mix the arrangement becomes truly unique.
The WTPA convention site, Odessa, was a four-hour drive from Brownwood, which is in the center of the state. During the drive I started to gain some insight into why regional associations necessarily came into existence. I was imagining what the drive must have been like in 1926 when WTPA formed. Today there are freeways and automobiles that can handle 70-mph speed limits with ease. That was not the case for conventioneers heading to the first convention in Sweetwater in 1927.
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By Laura King, Messenger Editor
As a group, 245 newspapers exceeded the state’s newsprint recycling goals in 2009, according to survey results from the 2009 Texas Recycled Newsprint Survey, conducted by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
In 1999, the Texas Legislature set forth an objective for newspaper publishers to meet at least one of two recycling goals. One goal calls for 30 percent of the total amount of newsprint purchased to contain at least 25 percent post-consumer recycled content.
Post-consumer recycled content can include paper, paperboard and other fibrous products that have completed their normal cycle of production and use.
The second goal calls for the total amount of newsprint purchased to contain an average of 18 percent post-consumer recycled content.
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By Dwight McKenzie, TPA Advertising Director
As along as I can remember, I’ve always had somewhat of a competitive spirit. If you fail, keep trying….try and try again.
That reminds me of a famous quote from Tommy Lasorda, former manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who said, “The only difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person’s determination.”
That quote always reminds me of the movie "Rudy." The moral of that true life story is about an individual whose determination overcame what everyone said he could not do. Never underestimate one’s desire and determination to succeed.
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Russell Viers, certified Adobe instructor, stopped in Rockwall in July to show 11 journalists how to build their newspapers faster using InDesign CS4 and CS5.
Texas Press Association sponsored the workshop, which covered basic InDesign, styles, templates, Snippets and libraries, actions and history, and metadata and Adobe's Bridge.
"There's not that one button that puts the whole paper together, but we can minimize the time spent on pagination," Viers said.
Viers said he also works with QuarkXPress users but was quick to add, "It doesn't matter how fast your computer is or how good you are at Quark, InDesign is faster and better."
Here are some quick InDesign tips from Viers' guide to "Building Your Newspaper Faster":
- Automate your work with Actions
Actions allow you to automate your work by creating macros you can apply to one or a group of images.
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Brenda Adams was named publisher of the Star Group on July 1. Adams has more than 30 years of experience in community journalism. She moved to Texas from London, Ohio, where she was publisher of the daily Madison Press and four weeklies.
Prior to her four-year stint in Ohio, Adams was publisher of the Sweetwater Reporter in Texas. She also was the first female publisher at the Sweetwater Reporter and Madison Press.
Michael Dillin joined The Mexia News as managing editor on July 5. Dillin has worked as a journalist in print and television. He began his career in 1974 as a police reporter for The Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville.
After his tenure in the Florida House of Representatives as a legislative aide, he returned to the Times-Union as chief city hall reporter. Later, he was a political reporter for a CBS affiliate in Jacksonville. He has also worked as a freelance writer, a media consultant and served as director of research for the city of Jacksonville.
In 2008, Dillin returned to the newspaper profession, working in Montana, Wyoming and Kansas, before accepting the Mexia position.
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BROWNWOOD – American Consolidated Media, parent company of Brownwood Newspapers Inc., owner of the Brownwood Bulletin, Ballinger Ledger and Winters Enterprise, completed a restructuring of the company on June 30, the Ballinger Ledger reported.
In the transaction, ACM financial investors acquired 90 percent of the ownership and total control of the company. Former owner, Southern Cross Media International Ltd., of Australia, retains 10 percent of the non-voting stock in ACM.
FORT WORTH – In July, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram introduced a new version of its newspaper that included a new design, new equipment for its presses and a higher grade of newsprint. The Star-Telegram is now a more compact size; typefaces have been changed to improve readability and sections have been reorganized and color-coded to make them easier to find.
COLEMAN – The Coleman Chronicle & Democrat-Voice changed its publishing schedule from semiweekly to weekly on Aug. 4. The publication date is now Wednesday instead of Tuesday and Thursday. The newspaper is also larger and has a new look and new features.
DALLAS – The A.H. Belo Corporation, owner of The Dallas Morning News, reported improved results for the second quarter, The Dallas Morning News reported. A.H. Belo had a net loss of $171,000, or 1 cent a share, for the quarter. The company expects its financial results to improve during the rest of the year.
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Debra Sue Specht, 48, of Vashti died July 24 from renal cancer. Specht wrote the syndicated column “Visiting in Vashti” that was published in the Clay County Leader, the Bowie News and The Shopper.
Specht began by assisting Frieda Duke in writing “Visiting in Vashti.” She took responsibility for writing the column after Duke’s death. Specht also took part in the rewriting of the Vashti History Book, published in 2003.
Specht was born in Dallas. She studied dance and theater at the Arts Magnet School at Booker T. Washington in Dallas. She later attended Junior College at Brookhaven in Farmers Branch. Specht received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in early childhood education at Georgia College & State University in Milledgeville, Ga.
Joe Brown, 79, died July 4 after a brief illness. Brown began his journalism career as a linotype operator at the Lorenzo Tribune while still in high school.
He became editor and publisher of the Tribune in the mid-1950s and continued in that capacity until he joined the editorial staff of the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. At his retirement he was serving as the city editor of the evening edition.
Brown was born in Mineral Wells. He was a graduate of Lorenzo High School and attended Texas Tech University, where he later spent two years teaching journalism.
Van Hilburn Jr., 46, died July 28 at the Medical City Hospital in Paris where he had undergone several spinal surgeries starting in early July. Hilburn was a longtime sports editor for The Paris News.
Hilburn was the valedictorian of his graduating class in 1982 at West Lamar High School in Petty. In 1985, he graduated summa cum laude from Wiley College in Marshall. The journalist worked at the Marshall News Messenger before joining The Paris News staff in 1993. |
Special Section
Division A: 1. Brownwood Bulletin; 2. Stephenville Empire-Tribune; 3. Kerrville Daily Times
Division B: 1. Wise County Messenger; 2. The Highlander; 3. Lamesa Press Reporter
Division C: 1. Glen Rose Reporter; 2. Fredericksburg Standard-Radio Post; 3. The Colorado City Record
Division D: 1. The Olney Enterprise; 2. The Big Lake Wildcat; 3. The Eldorado Success; HM. The Albany News
Sports
Division A: 1. Plainview Daily Herald; 2. Kerrville Daily Times; 3. Stephenville Empire-Tribune; HM. Brownwood Bulletin
Division B: 1. Wise County Messenger; 2. The Highlander; 3. Burleson Star; HM. The Graham Leader
Division C: 1. Glen Rose Reporter; 2. Clay County Leader; 3. Fredericksburg Standard-Radio Post; HM. Dublin Citizen, Hondo Anvil Herald, Colorado City Record
Division D: 1. The Albany News; 2. Crowley Star; 3. Everman Star; HM. Hico News Review, Muleshoe Journal, Olney Enterprise
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Board of Directors
OFFICERS:
President
Bob Brincefield,
Brownwood Bulletin;
First Vice President
Chad Ferguson,
The Banner Press Newspaper, Columbus;
Second Vice President
Russel Skiles,
Lamesa Press Reporter;
Treasurer
Greg Shrader,
Lufkin Daily News
Chairman
Terry Collier,
Fredericksburg Standard-Radio Post;
ELECTED DIRECTORS
Jim Bardwell,
The Gladewater Mirror (2011)
Rochelle Stidham,
Stephenville Empire Tribune (2011)
Greg Shrader,
Lufkin Daily News (2012)
Sue Elizondo,
Pleasanton Express (2012)
Donnis Baggett,
Waco Tribune-Herald (2013)
Brandi Guy,
Thorndale Champion (2013)
APPOINTED DIRECTORS
Sandra Aven,
Plainview Daily Herald
Steven Bridges,
The Goldthwaite Eagle
Lisa Davis,
Wise County Messenger
Chad Engbrock,
The Wylie News
Randy Mankin,
The Eldorado Success
Jim Moser,
Melissa Perner,
The Ozona Stockman
Cyndy Slovak-Barton,
REGIONAL PRESIDENTS
Donnita Nesbit Fisher,
The Wylie News,
North & East Texas Press Association
Mary Smithee,
The Canadian Record,
Panhandle Press Association
Daniel Elizondo,
The Pleasanton Express,
South Texas Press Association
Roy Sanders,
Burleson County Tribune,
Texas Gulf Coast Press Association
Melissa Perner,
The Ozona Stockman,
West Texas Press Association
REGIONAL VICE PRESIDENTS
Randy Keck,
The Community News,
North & East Texas Press Association
Phillip Hamilton,
The Olton Enterprise,
Panhandle Press Association
Tania French,
The Port Lavaca Wave,
South Texas Press Association
Chad Ferguson,
The Banner Press Newspaper,
Texas Gulf Coast Press Association
Mac McKinnon,
The Dublin Citizen,
West Texas Press Association
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