InkBlots

Billy Crews, chairman and chief executive officer of Journal Inc., announced the promotion of Clay Foster to publisher of the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal.

Foster succeeds Crews, who has served as publisher since 1989 and will continue in his corporate positions.

A collection of stories about the recently-concluded MPA summer convention and BNC presentation on Mississippi’s Gulf Coast last week:

• Calhoun County Journal & publisher Joel McNeece’s column
• Natchez Democrat editor Julie Cooper’s column
• Hattiesburg American Website named best among large dailies
• DeSoto Times-Tribune coverage
• Starkville Daily News tallies its awards
• Clarion-Ledger takes 40 awards, including general excellence
• Star-Herald coverage
• Sun-Herald shines in photography, opinion
• Meridian Star coverage
• Vicksburg Post hauls 20 awards home
• Commercial Dispatch coverage

The staff of the Starkville Daily News is organizing a public memorial service to celebrate the life and work of Sports Editor Emeritus Don Foster, who passed away last weekend.

The memorial service for Foster is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday in the multi-purpose center at the Sportsplex on Lynn Lane. Those attending are encouraged to wear Mississippi State University colors — maroon and white — in Foster’s memory.

The Commercial Dispatch has launched a Starkville edition effective Monday.

The Starkville Dispatch replaces the Columbus-based Commercial Dispatch in racks around town. The new paper will also be available in many more locations than the old Dispatch, and will be in the racks sooner.

The Starkville Dispatch will be available afternoons, Monday through Friday and on Sunday morning.

“In a time when most news about newspapers is doom and gloom, we hope this expansion will show that our industry is still alive and viable in the Golden Triangle,” said Dispatch Editor and Publisher Birney Imes.

Bigfoot sightings in Columbia? Apparently, the Shaggy One likes to spend part of his summer in Marion County.

Retired Columbian-Progress publisher Ken Prillhart, a past president of MPA, lost his bid for mayor in Columbia this week.

The newspaper business in Cleveland just got a bit smaller. According to Sunday Leader Publisher David Johnson, the weekly publication will soon be closing its doors for good.

For a brief period, the town had three newspapers. Earlier this spring, Delta magazine and newspaper publisher Scott Coopwood opened the Cleveland Current, a new, carrier-delivered Sunday weekly.

The Leader was not a member of MPA. Coopwood’s product is an affiliate member as of April. The Bolivar Commercial is a full-active member whose publisher, Mark Williams, serves on the MPA Board of Directors.

Pat Cashman, publisher and editor of The Vicksubrg Post, was seriously injured in a Memorial Day accident and was hospitalized at University Medical Center. He was scheduled for surgery June 5 with possible release over the weekend.

Lincoln County Board of Supervisors President and Brookhaven mayoral candidate the Rev. Jerry Wilson is disputing a Daily Leader story Tuesday that claimed he refused to speak about the situation surrounding the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks until after the Brookhaven elections on June 2.

Wilson said Wednesday the story misconstrued his comment.

“Y’all twist my words, so I’ll just be quiet,” Wilson said. “I’m gonna win the election, regardless.”

The ink stains are barely off Jim Abbott’s hands, and the Greenwood native is already going into the Mississippi Press Association Hall of Fame.

“Looking back, I think we did a decent job of giving Sunflower County a good newspaper,” Abbott said. “I know it’s a cliché, but it really was a labor of love. I’ve always enjoyed reporting the news.”

Abbott, 64, former publisher and editor of the Indianola Enterprise-Tocsin, will be inducted June 19 at the Beau Rivage Resort in Biloxi by John Howell, publisher of The Panolian, a twice weekly newspaper in Batesville.