New Direction

Haith: Climbing mountains

 Frank Haith recently accepted the head coaching position of the University of Missouri. I remember when he was an assistant at UNC-Wilmington and worked at the basketball camp I attended in seventh grade. I really don't remember much from that camp session except that I really wanted to learn more about basketball.

I knew nothing about Haith except his ties to North Carolina and his stints as an assistant at Wake Forest and head coach at Miami.

The Kansasa City Star's Kent Babb writes about how Haith met and seemed to overcome several challenges as he started out in coaching. There's even a part about where he once lived in a dorm room and mopped floors so he could stay close to the game.

I always feel more inspired when I read about people that have met challenges in life and continue to work hard to achieve their goals.

State of North Carolina clearing backlog of tax refunds

It looks like the state of North Carolina is giving back tax refunds from previous years after some work by the News & Observer in Raleigh. According to this article in the (Greensboro) News & Record, the overpayments go back as far as the mid-1990's. So does this mean, I will be getting a little extra back with my refund this year? I mean it probably wouldn't be that much, but you know, it would be welcome.

Newspaper questions Loudoun editor's perp walk

The Middleburg Eccentric had an in-depth story about the arrest and perp walk of its editor, Dee Dee Hubbard, who was charged with embezzlement. There is also a signed editorial, which is rare in the newspaper industry. I never met Hubbard and went to Middleburg a couple of times in the evening when I worked at another paper in the county. I have worked in many small towns and would think an editor that seemed to have a positive presence in the community would get a quiet arrest. Again, I'm writing from my desk after looking at several newspaper stories online. Something I felt was repeated was the importance of a viable newspaper for a community. It gives a community a legitimate record of events. In the case of the events of the above mentioned arrest, it picks up where media in adjacent towns stop. For example, check out coverage of the arrest from the Loudoun Independent, Leesburg Today, and The Washington Post. The Independent and Leesburg Today seem to give the arrest story decent treatment. The Washington Post's story leads its package of briefs about Loudoun County.  

Piedmont Triad newspaper guts its copy desk

I never thought I would see this, a newspaper eliminating its copy desk. Richmond, Va.-based Media General decided to consolidate the copy editing operations into one editing center, similar to the arrangement it has for many of its community newspapers. This led to the elimination of the copy desk at the Winston-Salem Journal. After watching the video and reflecting on my days as a reporter, a couple of moments resonate with me. Will someone with great skill and experience be at the editing center to catch an error that only someone familiar with Winston-Salem would know? For example, someone in the video said that Robinhood as in Robinhood Road is one word and not two. A good copy desk is the quality control department for the newsroom. Take that away and mistakes like spelling street names wrong happen. And, when a paper can't even spell the local street names correctly, what can it get right?

The mystery behind Huey P. Long's death

 

This week is the 75th anniversary of the death of former Louisiana governor and U.S. Senator Huey P. Long, who died after being shot in Baton Rouge. Of course, there is more to the story and The Times-Picayune discusses the mystery of who shot the Kingfish. 

Another view from The Advocate: Participants discuss Long's legacy at a seminar at the Old State Capitol. 

One of my NASCAR stories

 

When I worked in South Carolina, I was able to cover auto racing, specifically a NASCAR race at Darlington. However, this story from the June 14, 2003 edition of The (Sumter, S.C.) Item was about the announcement that Darlington Raceway would be losing its Labor Day weekend race. That race was moved to November. 

Wilmington lost a fine record store

OK, I'm a bit late with this considering this post from The (Wilmington, N.C.) Star-News  was written in January.

CD Alley, an independent record store was located in the city's downtown area. It sold a plethora of compact discs, records, and magazines. In January, the newspaper reported that the business closed after about 15 years in operation. This was one of the few places in town where you could purchase music from local and regional artists. I didn't just come here to buy music and promptly leave with my purchase.

I could always find something unique to purchase and I could find someone to talk about music or just about any other subject. 

South Carolina paper to implement a paywall

According to the South Carolina Press Association, The Greenville News is expected to implement a paywall on July 1. I've wavered on whether this is a good thing for newspapers. Sure, you get a little more money in, however, less people will be reading the articles and looking for information. I also wonder how this will impact advertising rates on the website since there will be less visitors. I looked at the subscription options and it seemed to have few options. How about making a couple of local news and sports stories available for free? Will updated high school football scores be available for free?

According to Gannett Blog, Greenville would follow the lead of the Tallahassee Democrat and The Spectrum in St. George, Utah. 

N.C. State's student paper in trouble

According to this, the N.C. State University student paper, the Technician, has been severely understaffed. The last editor left after his grades fell below a minimum needed to stay on staff. He took on additional responsibilities, such as writing articles.

From the Technician story:

Tyler Dukes, Technician editor-in-chief for 2006 to 2007, said this is not an individual specific fault, but something which has always been an issue. 

“There’s something that can never be fixed,” Dukes said. “That’s getting enough people who can balance Technician and academics well. We’ve always struggled with that and it’s the same at any student paper.” 

Indeed, this is not unique to N.C. State. I spent time on the staff of my student paper and served as a one-person sports department for a semester. I had a regular correspondent, covered selected events and put in news about other games and announcements whenever I could get them.

 

Association official: Recall bill would have a chilling effect

The Yadkin Valley News:  RALEIGH — A proposed bill that would provide for a special election to remove Yadkin County Commissioners from office could subvert the election process and sets a dangerous precedent by allowing state legislators to insert themselves into local policy decisions, a spokesperson for a statewide advocacy and lobbying group for county government said this morning.

Also, a Yadkin County Commissioner has contacted all 120 state legislators to voice his support for a special election to vote on the removal of county officials.

There should definitely be a recall bill for Yadkin County and the 99 others in North Carolina. But it does need some reasonable rules about when it can be used.