InkBlots

Deer Creek Pilot editor Ray Mosby, one of our favorite small town newspapermen, figures in this Associated Press article (via a Canadian travelogue site) on efforts to attract tourists to West Mississippi and the Delta. Mosby recently persuaded local readers to form an economic development and tourism organization. In addition to the Muddy Waters connection, Mosby says the area offers the “best public hunting and fishing in Mississippi.”

Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal Business Editor Dennis Seid is halfway around the world in Shanghai with fellow Appalachian region citizens on a trade mission to China.

The Pilot in Southern Pines, N.C. paid a recent visit to the Sea Coast Echo in Bay St. Louis, where, despite circulation gains after the storm, publisher Randy Ponder says the paper is still plagued by a dearth of advertising and the lack of employment candidates. Nevertheless, Ponder takes the paper’s obligation to the community to heart.

The Meridian Star has been tweaking elements of its staid design and traditional news content, even offering up a Feel Good Edition for Labor Day last week. The paper was filled with mostly positive news and features, not counting, we assume, the obits on page A4. The week before, recently-installed editor Fredie Carmichael addressed a few of the other projects to freshen up the Star’s shine.

Passages and remembrances from five years ago to mark the anniversary of 9-11-01.

Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal: The images of Sept. 11, 2001, are forever a part of the American consciousness. It seems both longer than five years ago and at the same time just like it was yesterday.

The Clarion-Ledger: Five years after the twins towers of the World Trade Center were knocked down by terrorists using airliners as bombs, Osama bin Laden still taunts the American people in yet another video released this week.

The Sun Herald: The terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. Hurricane Katrina on Aug. 29, 2005. The anniversary dates of two of the worst disasters in America’s history will forever be 13 days apart.

The Hattiesburg American: James Cleere, a 1964 graduate of Hattiesburg High School and father of two adult sons who was living in Des Moines, Iowa, had been sent to New York for a meeting with more than 100 colleagues from his insurance firm. During the business trip to New York, he was staying at the Marriott World Trade Center, located between the two towers. All Cleere’s family has left of him is the metal name tag he wore that final day.