Bank of Holly Springs

Fielder’s Choice

MPA friends are the best

I thought about not going to this Mississippi Press Association Summer Convention.

I had too much going on right here at home.

It was a six-hour drive, and we could only stay a couple of nights because we had to have our daughter Erin back on Sunday for a leadership conference at the University of Mississippi.

And we’d been on the road a lot lately – traveling here and there.

But I woke up one morning and told Pam, “We’re going to press convention. I need a break, even if it is a short break.”

And I’m so glad we decided to make the trip Thursday to the Golden Nugget Hotel.

As soon as I walked in the opening reception that evening, I started smiling and greeting long-time friends.

In a printed program for the event, Paul Keane, outgoing MPA president and publisher of The Wayne County News, wrote, “The convention is the chance to visit old friends, make some new ones and come to the realization that we are in this together.”

I couldn’t agree more.

Some of my best friends in this state have come through my long-time involvement in the press association.

I walked in to my first one 32 years ago (the summer of 1987) as a young and green sports editor for The Itawamba County Times.

It, too, was in Biloxi, and my first trip ever to the Mississippi coast after moving a state over from Alabama.

I had heard and read about Biloxi, and experiencing it firsthand made it quickly become one of my favorite places.

We’ve taken the MPA Summer Convention off the coast to different locations, but I always prefer Biloxi.

Pam’s parents lived in Gulfport once upon a time. But after our marriage in 1989, I introduced her to the convention and all the good newspaper folks from around Mississippi.

Then our three children – Emma, Andy and Erin – came to enjoy the conventions and the MPA family also. They particularly liked the Press Camps as young children.

The oddest thing about going to conventions now is that I’m one of the old-timers. We’re easy to see – lots of gray hair and bald spots.

There were others in the old-time age group at this convention, and I always spent time with them. I’ve known them since 1987. They’ve always been there for laughter and for advice.

Then I met new journalists, and it’s always great to see their excitement and their eagerness to learn.

One of the Hall of Fame inductees this year was longtime friend Randy Ponder. He retired in December 2018 after 50 years in the newspaper industry, working for many years as ad manager and publisher at The Sea Coast Echo in Bay St. Louis.

That newspaper, under his leadership, did not miss an issue after the catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. The newspaper office was gutted by the storm, and its staff worked for months out of cramped, rented quarters elsewhere in town.

That example of true dedication says the most important thing about this state’s newspaper folks and my good friends. Their communities come first – always, period.

Holly Springs South Reporter

P.O. Box 278
Holly Springs, MS 38635
PH: (662) 252-4261
FAX: (662) 252-3388
www.southreporter.com