InkBlots

Stone County Enterprise publisher Heather Freret, with the Wiggins newspaper since 1994, retired July 27. She has served as publisher since 2000, and previously was an ad rep and later news editor for the weekly paper. In announcing her departure, Freret, whose husband David died in April, said she will spend more time with her family…Meanwhile, John Waterman, 24, of Bay St. Louis, has been named the new editor of the Enterprise. He has been reporting for the Sea Coast Echo since 2004, following a summer internship through his journalism studies at Ole Miss. While in school, he was a correspondent for the Daily Mississippian…You can go home again, it seems. Jenny Humphryes, managing editor of the Greenwood Commonwealth from 1999-2005, is returning to the Delta daily in August. She succeeds Pat Kelly and since her departure from Greenwood has served as news editor for The Clarion-Ledger and as editor for The Troy (AL) Messenger…Edward A. Nichols, a one-time Mississippi newspaperman, has been named publisher of the Sulphur Southwest Daily News in Louisiana for Gatehouse Media.

The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal has put some fresh faces on its blog page, with expanded offerings and a greater focus by the site on breaking news and updated reports throughout the day.

The Sun-Herald gives a primary nod to Charlie Ross for lieutenant governor.

The Clarion-Ledger picks Democratic incumbent George Dale and Republican Mike Chaney for insurance commissioner.

More ink on “The Race Beat,” which we have discussed previously here and here. The Sun News in Myrtle Beach offers this recent review.

The Clarion-Ledger reports on the boom in business for Mexican restaurants and other Hispanic-owned-and-operated ventures, including La Noticia of Mississippi, a Spanish-language newspaper.

Stick a fork in the so-called Governor’s Race: Sid Salter says it’s done. Over. Finished. Kaput.

On Greenwood’s new smoking ban: Commonwealth editor and publisher Tim Kalich asks how far is too far for the city fathers to “butt in.”

Because we missed it back around the holiday: Ginna Parsons of the Tupelo Daily Journal shares Jo Ann Denley’s recipe for Lima & Corn Salad.

James and Cindy Ricketts, owner of the Ocean Springs Record since 2001, have sold the newspaper to Bay Newspapers, owners of the Bay Press in Biloxi. Bay Press Publisher Patti Guider, who recently joined the MPA Board of Directors, will now oversee both papers. She vowed there will be no changes at the Record except in the publisher’s office.

“It’s not broke. We’re not going to try and fix it,” Guider told The Mississippi Press in Gautier.

The Ricketts bought the newspaper from Gannett Corp. after returning to Mississippi following a 2-year stint in Florida.

James Ricketts told this blogger on Monday that he and his wife are looking to the future and going to take their time before making big decisions.

“For the past 17 years through MPA, we’ve had an extended family that shared common goals, challenges and solutions,” Ricketts told us. “We will be keeping in touch.”

Newspapers across central Mississippi and beyond converge on the Neshoba County Fairgounds this week for the annual tradition, chock full of heat, funnel cakes, horse racing, lots and lots of talk on Founder’s Square and, of course, politics…

• The Neshoba Democrat’s Fair Times newspaper delivers sights from the scene.
• Meridian Star’s “Let’s Go to the Fair!” roundup provides daily updates from the fairgrounds.
• Fair fixture and Calhoun County Journal publisher Gale Denley pontificates on the changes over the years at the fair and in similar signature stumps for political candidates.
• Lots of fair flavor via photos and passages on Sid Salter’s blog.

A veritable buffet of newspaper-related chatter in the pages of The Clarion-Ledger this week…

• Dr. Samir Husni, head of the Department of Journalism at Ole Miss, is the subject of the Sunday Morning profile in the Perspective section.
• Bill Minor remembers the late, great: “Bob Gordon was short, ever-smiling, the most unthreatening news reporter you could imagine. Didn’t do him much good in September, 1966, when he arrived in coat and tie to cover court-ordered integration of Grenada High School.“
• Ronnie Agnew never met Charles Tisdale: “He was not a dispassionate observer by any stretch. His was a career more of advocacy than of journalism. His funeral Saturday was more than a service about his life, but more a symbol of a bygone era and perhaps the start of a new one.“

The Calhoun County Journal in Bruce does. On YouTube, no less.