InkBlots

Brent Powers is the new advertising director for the Gaston Gazette, a Freedom Communications newspaper in Gastonia, N.C. A Mississippi native, he previously worked for the Oxford Eagle and Hattiesburg American… Crystal Smith has been named advertising director at the Laurel Leader-Call. She previously worked at The Commercial Appeal newspaper in Memphis as a multimedia marketing consultant. She also worked at The DeSoto Times-Tribune in Hernando… Floyd Ingram has been named general manager of the Chickasaw Journal in Houston. A former reporter and editor in West Point and Columbus, he most recently was editor and publisher of the Ballinger Ledger and Winters Enteprise in Texas.

Several newspapers in the state have recently taken the wraps off new designs for their online editions:

• The Daily Leader in Brookhaven, which now includes a page for the Prentiss Headlight.
• The Daily Corinthian signed up with online Website solution provider Matchbin.
• The Meridian Star has introduced CNHI’s new propriety design and platform to its site.
• The East Central Link in Jackson County recently fired up its first Website.
• Ditto The ReView of Jones County in Laurel.
• The Grenada Star now employs a site powered by Web Advertising Inc.
• The Oxford Eagle took the wraps of its new site Monday.

After buying the former Daily Times Leader building during its Jan. 7 meeting, the Clay County Board of Supervisors has plans to put the space to work.

Clay County Chancery Clerk Robbie Robinson says the immediate need is a new location for the District 4 voting precinct to replace the Clay County Courthouse, which is “overrun” each time an election is held. District 4 is the county’s third-largest precinct.

The Times Leader vacated its century-old home last year for downsized space on Main Street. The old location, which formally housed the press that printed the daily newspaper and sister publication Starkville Daily News, became cavernous after the press was refurbished and moved to Starkville in 2007.

Charles Jacobs, former owner and retired editor and publisher of the Brookhaven Daily Leader died Wednesday evening. He was 91.

Jacobs purchased the Leader Times in 1958, later merging it with another weekly newspaper in Brookhaven and changed the name to the Leader-Advertiser. In 1968, he converted the twice-weekly newspaper into a five-day daily under the name The Daily Leader. Among Mississippi’s oldest newspapers, The Leader celebrated its 127th year of publication on Feb. 23, one day prior to Jacobs’ death. The paper remains owned by the Jacobs family.

Read the full obit. 

Despite the fact that the NFL combine kicks off this week in Indianapolis, Brett Favre is still in the news.

Vikings fans continue to take matters into their own hands in an attempt to persuade Favre to return to the team in 2010. The latest effort involves a full-page color ad in this coming Monday’s Hattiesburg American, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

After 10 years of serving Choctaw County, The Choctaw Chronicle has closed its doors. The weekly newspaper officially closed Friday, January 22. It boasted a circulation of around 1,400 at the time of its closing. Ackerman is still served by the weekly – and much older – Choctaw Plaindealer.

The words of former Times-Promoter columnist Clarence Christian never made it onto the front page of this newspaper until now.

His column, which ran regularly in The Times-Promoter, the forerunner to the DeSoto Times-Tribune, appeared in the “Colored News” section of the newspaper during the mid 1960s.

He was a 17-year-old student during the spring of 1964. He wrote about happenings at the all-black Delta Center High School in Walls, now Walls Elementary School.

Jon Alverson, former publisher of the DeSoto County Tribune, has been named editor of the Times-Tribune in Hernando. He formerly was a group manager for 10 West Publications in the Memphis area…Bryan Davis, a former sports reporter for the Yazoo Herald, has joined the Daily Times Leader as sports editor… Bill Elderton, former publisher of the Starkville Daily News and Daily Times Leader, has been named publisher of the Hot Springs Village Voice in Arkansas. He has also been an ad director for The Meridian Star and Vicksburg Post, as well as owner of his own advertising agency.

The Canton mayor and Board of Aldermen are facing accusations for at least the second time in two years of violating the state Open Meetings Act. They refused Wednesday to allow James Cockrell, who introduced himself as vice chairman of the citizen-led group Canton Quality of Life, to use a video camera during the board’s work session.

Danny P. Smith, former assistant sports editor of The Commercial Dispatch, has been named sports editor of the Starkville Daily News. He previously worked for the daily paper from 1986-1990. He is a former sports editor of the Daily Times Leader… Brandon Walker, former assistant sports editor of The Meridian Star, has been named managing editor of the Times Leader, his hometown newspaper. Walker most recently served as a sports reporter for the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal in Tupelo… Former Times Leader sports editor Kenneth Mister recently joined the Delta Democrat Times, leading the Greenville daily’s sports coverage.