A 1984 summer job at The Enterprise-Tocsin gave me my
start as a news reporter and led to an unexpected mention in my former editor's
memoir.
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| I'm
pictured with David Rushing, center, and Jim Abbott. (Click on image to enlarge.) |
I drove up to my hometown of Indianola on Wednesday,
September 9, to see my friend Jim Abbott and celebrate the publication of his
memoir, "Paper Man: Chasing the Truth in the Mississippi Delta"
(2026, Nautilus Publishing), at the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive
Center. About 70 people attended the event, where Abbott was interviewed and
reflected on his career in journalism in the Mississippi Delta.
Abbott is the former editor and publisher of The
Enterprise-Tocsin. When he hired me as a reporter in 1984, he gave me my first
job in journalism. I last saw him in the 1990s, so I was absolutely excited to
see him again Wednesday. He is now 82.
I was also happy to see David Rushing, who was managing
editor at the E-T. He and Jim took me under their wings and showed me the ropes
of community journalism in general and investigative reporting in particular. I
will always be grateful to these two men who gave me my start in journalism.
I was especially surprised — and honored — to discover
that Jim mentions me in his book. He writes about the investigative stories I
reported for the E-T during the summer of 1984, including the stories that
earned a first-place award in investigative journalism from the Mississippi
Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest.
Jim’s account brought back some wonderful memories of my
first summer as a newspaper reporter.
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The
page from "Paper Man" in which Jim writes about my first summer at
The Enterprise-Tocsin. (Click on image to enlarge.)
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