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TPA NEWS

Bob Parkins (1929-2008)

2008 Ideas Contest winners announced (4/14/08)

Grainger Today is TPA's newest member (2/21/08)

Aflac is a TPA associate member (2/21/08)

Heatherly is new publisher of The Jackson Sun (1/3/08)

George T. Whitley (1925-2007)

The Collierville Herald purchased by American Hometown Publishng (12/20/07)

Sale of The Oak Ridger completed (12/20/07)

Citizen Tribune names new publisher

Shaw, Lawrence and Associates is TPA's newest associate member

Hall of Fame Inducts Four

NewsSwap sharing site available to members

Newspapers Deliver Voters

Bob Parkins
(1929-2008)

Bob Parkins, 78, editor, publisher and owner of the Milan Mirror-Exchange newspaper died Thursday morning April 17 in Milan.

An avid outdoorsman and deer and turkey hunter, he was turkey hunting with a good friend George Fain when he passed away.

He was a leader in the Tennesee Press Association, having served as president in 1991-1992. He was also a director and past president of Tennessee Press Service and a trustee of the Tennessee Press Association Foundation.

Mr. Parkins was born in Bolivar, TN July 12, 1929 and had lived in Milan since his senior year of high school.

A graduate of Milan High School he played football at the University of Tenn. at Martin and earned his Master’s degree in dairy agriculture at the Univ. of Tenn. Knoxville. He also earned a degree in Journalism.

He served in the U.S. Air Force and was stationed in Panama.

Active in civic affairs, Mr. Parkins was instrumental in founding the West Tenn. Agricultural Museum and was serving as President for 26 years.

He was a Paul Harris Fellow and former president of Milan Rotary Club, past president of the Milan YMCA board of directors, a member of the West Tenn. Healthcare Foundation board, Milan Chamber of Commerce, Milan Alumni Assn., and committee member for the Gibson Co. Sports Hall of Fame, into which he was inducted.

He was a former chairman of the Gibson Co. Gas Utility Board and a former Milan Chamber of Commerce Man of the Year.

Mr. Parkins was a past elder and Sunday school teacher at Sitka Church of Christ, where he served as elder for over 30 years.

He was a frequent blood donor and was recently honoring after having donated over 17 gallons to the West Tenn. blood center.

Mr. Parkins was preceded in death by his father Henry Clay and mother Drudie Bernice Edwards-Parkins, a brother Jimmy Parkins and a sister Mary Francis Humphreys.

Family survivors are Dorris Lee Fly-Parkins, his wife of 54 years, 8 children: Deborah Lee Ayers (Dick) of Warsaw, NY; Melanie Dawn Day (DeWitt); Tamara Claire Dunnebacke (Kevin) of Hendersonville, TN; Paris Denise Parkins; Scarlet Dru Elliott (Marty); Crystal Fly Parkins of Atlanta; Denton Clay Parkins (Donna) and Victor Bob Parkins (Carol) of Milan; ten grandchildren, Jordan Myranda Parkins, Holly Elizabeth Parkins, Austyn Douglas Dunnebacke, Casen Lee Dunnebacke, Deborah Lee Day, Walker Denton Parkins, Kendall Denice Parkins, Clay Parkins Elliott, Demi Esther Elliott, Bob Alan Elliott, and a brother, Jerry Parkins (Jo) of Morristown, Tenn.

The family requests that memorials may be sent to the Sitka Church of Christ, the Oakwood Cemetery Assn. in Milan, or to the charity of the donor’s choice.

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2008 Ideas Contest Awards announced
Awards in the annual Tennessee Press Association Ideas Contest were presented Friday, April 11, in Gatlinburg in conjunction with the Advertising/ Circulation Conference. List of winners

The Chattanooga Times Free Press won the top prize—the Jack Freeland Memorial Award Best of Show—for the entry of a series of subscription promotion ads. The judges’ comments included, “Novel idea that can work for any newspaper. Continuous cross promotion throughout the year with ongoing themes but consistent message—Subscribe.”

Runners-up were The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, for its “Elvis” Single Copy Promotion and the Overton County News, Livingston, for its “Santa’s Home Office” ad entered in the Best Use of Multi-Color category.

The Shelbyville Times-Gazette received the most awards at 27, sweeping the awards in its division for Best Feature Page, Best 1/4 Page or Smaller Ad, Single Copy Promotion and NIE Promotion. The Sparta Expositor achieved the second highest number of awards at 19.

Members of the Nebraska Press Association judged the contest entries March 7 in Lincoln.

A total of 1,270 entries was received from 43 newspapers. The contest has 27 categories, with each divided into five circulation divisions, two for non-dailies and three for dailies.

The Ideas Contest was established in 1978. The Ideas Contest proceeds help to offset the speaker costs for the Advertising/Circulation Conference. All conference attendees and Ideas Contest entrants will receive a CD of the PowerPoint presentation.

Jack Freeland, for whom the Best of Show award was named, was advertising manager of The Daily Herald, Columbia, and was active with the TPA Advertising Committee.

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Grainger Today is TPA’s newest member newspaper
Grainger Today became TPA’s 129th member when the TPA Board of Directors approved its membership application on Feb. 13. The newspaper is located in Bean Station, Tenn. It publishes on Wednesdays in tabloid format and has a paid circulation of 4,247.
Contact information for the newspaper:
Grainger Today
Ann Cason, Publisher
Jim Zachary, Editor
P.O. Box 519
Bean Station, TN 37708
(865) 993-0713
www.graingertoday.com

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Aflac joins TPA as an associate member
Aflac, represented by Stephen Anderson, was approved as an associate member of TPA during the Board of Directors meeting on Feb. 13. Contact information for Stephen Anderson, Aflac District Sales Coordinator:
133 Indian Lake Road, Ste. 204, Hendersonville, TN 37075, (615) 828-0451

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Heatherly is new publisher of The Jackson Sun
(1/3/08) Roy Heatherly is the new president and publisher of The Jackson Sun. Ed Graves, former publisher, will become senior vice president of newspaper relations for USA WEEKEND.

Heatherly previously worked at The Jackson Sun for ten years. He began as sales representative and served as advertising director from 1985-1990. Most recently, he was advertising director of The News-Star in Monroe, La.
(adapted from a Dec. 18, 2007 article in The Jackson Sun)

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George T. Whitley
(1925-2007)

(1/3/08) George T. Whitley, former publisher and editor of The Leader, Covington, passed away on Sunday, Dec. 30, 2007. He was 82.

Mr. Whitley, who was with The Leader for 56 years, retired on May 9, 2003. He served TPA and its affiliate organizations, Tennessee Press Service and Tennessee Press Association Foundation in various capacities, including as president of each.

He leaves his wife of 57 years, Gladys Hyde Whitley; sons, Dr. Stan (Sharon) Whitley of Covington and Bret (Dorothy) Whitley of Mason; brothers, Larry (Margie) Whitley and Ed Whitley both of Covington and his grandchildren, Anna E. Whitley, Jordan R. Whitley and Ethan E. Whitley. He was preceded in death by one brother, A. F. "Beany" Whitley and one sister, Paulina Deverell.

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American Hometown Publishing acquires The Collierville Herald
(12/20/07) The Collierville Herald, a 4,600-circulation family-owned weekly newspaper in Collierville, Tenn., has joined American Hometown Publishing.

Founded in 1870, The Herald had been owned since January 1, 1988, by Pritchartt Publishing Company whose principal owner was the late Van Pritchartt, Jr., longtime Memphis newsman and managing editor of The Memphis Press-Scimitar, until it was closed by Scripps-Howard in 1983.

Pritchartt served as editor and publisher of The Herald until his death in June 2007.

“It was a very difficult decision for our family to sell the paper, but after my father died this summer we realized that operating The Herald took more expertise than we were able to provide,” said Pritchartt’s daughter, Mary Muscari."....We believe they will do their best to maintain the legacy my father helped establish.”

American Hometown Publishing has assumed operation of the paper and has named Cheryl McGraw publisher. McGraw was publisher of the Bulletin Times, a weekly newspaper in nearby Bolivar, Tenn.

“I’m very excited about the opportunity to join the American Hometown Publishing family and I look forward to continuing the legacy of The Collierville Herald,” McGraw said.

American Hometown Publishing owns other community newspapers in Tennessee, including Trenton, Dyer, Humboldt, Brownsville, Covington, Waynesboro and Henderson, as well as newspapers in Virginia and Oklahoma.
Press release supplied by Katcher, Vaughn & Bailey Public Relations.

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Sale of The Oak Ridger completed
(12/20/07) The Oak Ridger has been sold to GateHouse Media Inc. as part of a sale of 16 newspapers by Morris Publishng Group. The completion of the sale was announced on Dec. 3.

The Oak Ridger publishes Monday-Friday with a paid circulation of 7,081. It was established in 1949 by the Hill Family. Stauffer Communications acquired it in 1986 and then sold to The Oak Ridger to Morris Communications Corp. in 1995.

GateHouse Media, headquarted in Fairport, N.Y., is one of thee largest publishers of locally based print and online media in the United States with 101 daily publications and coverage in 23 states.
Adapted from a story by Darrell Richardson, The Oak Ridger, and GateHouse Media press releases.

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Citizen Tribune names new publisher
(11/29/07) R. Michael Fishman has been named publisher and editor of the Citizen Tribune, Morristown. He joined the newspaper's staff in 1988, most recently serving as assistant publisher for 11 years. His father, R. Jack Fishman, is the former publisher and founder of the newspaper. The Citizen Tribune was founded in 1966. R. Jack Fishman retains the title of president and is chairman of the board of Lakeway Publishers Inc.

Both R. Michael Fishman and R. Jack Fishman have served as president of TPA.

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Shaw, Lawrence and Associates is TPA’s newest associate member
(11/29/07) The TPA board of directors accepted the associate membership application of Shaw, Lawrence and Associates of Hendersonville, Tenn., at its Nov. 17 meeting. Shaw, Lawrence and Associates serves as a consultant for benefits programs including health insurance, life insurance and retirement plans. W. E. (Buddy) Shaw is the contact for Shaw, Lawrence and Associates. He can be reached at (800) 847-2322 or .

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Tennessee Newspaper Hall of Fame inducts four
(11/22/07) Unveiling the portrait of Frank Richard Ahlgren are (left) Henry Stokes, former managing editor of The Commercial Appeal and (right) Chris Peck, editor of The Commerial Appeal. Ahlgren was editor of the paper from 1936-1968 and one of four posthumously inducted into the Tennessee Newspaper Hall of Fame on November 16, 2007. Photo by Elenora E. Edwards, The Tennessee Press
Press release, photos and bios of 2007 inductees

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NewsSwap sharing site available to members
(11/15/07) NewsSwap, a service for Tennessee Press Association member newspapers, is now online to provide a means of sharing stories that are of regional or statewide interest for publication by other TPA members. You will need a user name and password to access the site. Please contact TPA at (865) 584-5761.

Visit NewsSwap

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Newspapers
Deliver Voters
(11/8/07) The publisher of each TPA member newspaper should have received the mailer containing a CD with the flash video presentation during the week of Nov. 12-16

TPS has sent the kit to statewide and national political contacts and encourages your sales staff to use the same material to promote your newspaper to local political candidates.

TPA is a primary media sponsor of the Governor's Books from Birth Foundation Imagination Library project.