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Newsmakers - February 2015

STEPHEN BEASLEY - Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

From being a carrier for the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal as a kid, to becoming the publisher of the A-J and after more than 40 years in the newspaper industry, Stephen Beasley announched his retirement in January. “Nearly 43 years of budgets and deadlines — there’s just a little clock inside of everybody that says there is a time to walk away,” Beasley said. “It’s hard to know when that is. It’s been fun and it’s time to move on to the next chapter.” Beasley and his wife plan to stay in the Lubbock area after retirement. Beasley was born in Clovis, New Mexico, but grew up in Lubbock. He attended elementary school and high school there and graduated from Texas Tech in May 1972.

DAVE BERRY - The Tyler Morning Telegraph

After 46 years in the newspaper business, Dave Berry, 66, retired from the Tyler Morning Telegraph, where he has served as managing editor and editor for more than 20 years. “Journalism has been a good career,” he said. “The business of newspapers is in my blood. … I’ll always be a newspaperman, even though I’ll be retired.” Nelson Clyde, publisher of the Tyler Morning Telegraph, said he had a very close working relationship with Berry during the past five years he has served as editor. “It is my belief that Dave accomplished something few get to do in a career and that is to finish well,” Clyde said.  From 1968-70, he worked for the newspaper at Kansas State University. It was the height of the Vietnam War, the Summer of Love and Black Power marches. He served in the U.S. Army as a journalist out of the U.S. Army Vietnam Information Office in 1971, reporting stories for military papers. When he returned from Vietnam, he went to work for the Tulsa Tribune, then later the Brazosport Facts, the Arlington Daily News, the Dallas-Fort Worth Suburban Newspapers, the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer, Kentucky, and lastly, he was hired as the managing editor of the Tyler Morning Telegraph and five years ago, was promoted to editor. Although he might not report to the newsroom every day, Berry plans to continue writing his weekly Focal Point columns for the My Generation section each week.

CHRIS LYKINS - The New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung

The New BraunfelsHerald-Zeitung recently named Chris Lykins as its managing editor. Lykins comes to The Herald-Zeitung from The Seguin Gazette, where he worked for 16 years, including two stints as managing editor totaling 11 years. H-Z editor and publisher Neice Bell worked with Lykins for 6 1/2 years at the Gazette. “I am so excited to get Chris over here,” Bell said. “He’s extremely smart, and he cannot do anything other than make this paper better than it already is. I am ecstatic that he’s coming over here,” she said.  Lykins said the transition should be more seamless than switching jobs usually is, as Southern Newspapers, Inc., owns both The Seguin Gazette and The Herald-Zeitung. “Southern is a company that’s very interested in the newspapers being an integral part of the community and supporting their community. They want their community newspapers to thrive and it’s one of the reasons I’ve stayed with the company for as long as I have,” he said.

ALLISON POLLAN - The Tyler Morning Telegraph

Allison Pollan is the new editor of the Tyler Morning Telegraph. Pollan comes to the Tyler Paper after 10 years at the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, where she served the past four as managing editor. Pollan replaces Dave Berry, who recently retired. “While national and international news can be found anywhere these days, the newspaper is still the key source of information for local news,” Pollan said.  Pollan earned a degree in journalism from The University of Texas at Austin. She worked as a reporter for The Kerrville Daily Times for a year before working for the Brazosport Facts for six years, first as reporter, then as assistant city editor and city editor. In 2004, she became assistant city editor at the Caller-Times. She was promoted to managing editor since 2010.

TRAVIS WEBB - The New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung

Travis Webb, former interim managing editor at The New Braunfels, has been promoted to assistant managing editor. “Travis has done a remarkable job for the last three months keeping us going,” Neice Bell, publisher of the H-Z, said. “I’m tremendously excited for this opportunity and look forward to playing a greater part in bringing New Braunfels the news of the day,” Webb said. “I’ve greatly enjoyed my time at the H-Z so far, and I am very much looking forward to taking on this new challenge. The H-Z is already one of the best community papers in the state, and I’m looking forward both to continuing that tradition of excellence and helping us become even better,” Webb said.