GFW PRSA Member Spotlight
best lessons learned in PR Be available. Know your company’s mission and messages. Build trust with senior management, the media and the
public.
advice to a new PR pro Continue to learn about your organization and clients. Practice and train to
develop your communication skills. Adapt quickly to new technology. Realize
that most ethics situations can be simplified by applying the Golden Rule (do
unto others as you would have them do unto you).
trade secrets Realize that you and the reporter work as a team for best results. Have a
strong support staff and good mentors.
favorite movie “The Bridge on the River Kwai.” It reminds me of my military time in Burma.
hobbies Reading, yard work and helping others.
this much I know Membership in professional organizations can be very rewarding.
why retired pros should remain involved When you do not need to make money to live on, look for continual learning
opportunities, networking and making new friends. I believe these things are
beneficial for good mental and physical health.
To be featured in the PRSA Member Spotlight, e-mail your responses and a photo
to lauravanhoosier@msn.com. You may choose not to answer any questions or add some.
The TCU Daily Skiff, the dailyskiff.com web site and Image magazine received
four national awards in design and multimedia storytelling from the Associated
Collegiate Press and College Media Advisers, meeting Oct. 28-Nov. 1 in Austin.
CMA’s Best of Collegiate Design 17 named Ronald Villegas, a 2009 graduate, its first-place headline winner, all publications. Rose Baca, Travis Brown and Chance Welch helped propel the dailyskiff.com to second place in ACP multimedia best of
show. Villegas received an honorable mention in the ACP 2009 Design of the Year
magazine competition, and Max Landman, a 2009 graduate, took fifth place in informational graphic, all categories, in
the CMA Best of Collegiate Design. ...
The Westlake Academy newspaper, The Black Cow, turned up in the October Quill,
SPJ’s magazine, and in the September Editor & Publisher. Volunteer adviser Dave Lieber, never shy, sent the award-winning book compilation to 200 government and
education VIPs, and the accolades poured in, many of them making the bulletin
board at twitter.com/blackcownews. Meanwhile, Lieber’s “Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong” has won its second national book award for social change.
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GET A JOB
From the Ole Miss j-school site, sent in by Angie Summers. The News Herald in Panama City, Fla., has an opening for a crime beat reporter
with at least some experience, though not necessarily in covering cops. Metro
editor Will Glover notes that the beach is nearby, “so we get a few submissions, usually from people in their 20s and 30s, who make
up most of our staff.” E- Glover at wglover@pcnh.com.
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PRESIDENT’S COLUMN
Andra Bennett House, APR, Greater Fort Worth PRSA
“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together
is success.” Henry Ford said that, and it certainly applies to all the GFW PRSA board members and
committee chairs who worked together for success during a very unusual year.
The chapter persevered through the Great Recession with outstanding luncheon and
professional development programming, good attendance and enthusiastic
participation. We’re down about 10 percent in membership, but we expected that due to the economy.
We revised the budget, renegotiated contracts and protected our assets, like
everyone else in these difficult times.
We also co-hosted the Southwest District Conference, honored Dr. Doug Newsom, APR, Fellow, and gained a new APR — Diane Rhodes Bergman. We helped Komen for the Cure and Kids Who Care. We judged competitions for two
other PRSA chapters and awarded three college PR students with scholarships.
Many thanks to the board members and committee chairs for their selfless
contributions and tireless dedication: VP membership Tom Burke, APR; VP programs Carol Murray, APR; treasurer Allyson Cross; treasurer-elect Marc Flake; treasurer-elect and then secretary Linda Jacobson, APR; secretary Terry Morawski; directors Joan Hunter, Richie Escovedo and Lauren Kwedar; assembly delegates Laura Van Hoosier, APR, and Dan Keeney, APR; accreditation committee, Lisa Starnes, APR; awards/scholarships, Lauren Burkett; bylaws, Daryl Wagoner; community service, Cindy Vasquez; diversity, Glenda Thompson; ethics and Southwest District Conference, Margaret Ritsch; hospitality, Lara Kohl (with Joan Hunter); job bank, Jerrod Resweber; newsletter/public relations, Donna McLallen, APR; nominating, Laura Van Hoosier, APR; professional development, Lauren Kwedar; Education SIG, Holly Ellman; Health Care SIG, Christy Jones; Independent Practitioners SIG, Paul Sturiale, APR; Masters SIG, Andrea Helms; Nonprofit SIG, Diane Rhodes Bergman, APR; NuPros SIG, Lacey Douglas; Online SIG, Richie Escovedo; President’s Council, Kim Speairs, APR; Social Media SIG, Richie Escovedo and Lauren Fernandez; and student liaisons, Jahnae Stout, Carroll Burney, Mary Dulle, APR, and Dave Hogan, APR.
Finally, thanks to the membership for continuing to value the chapter and offer
feedback. Be sure to join us at our December networking luncheon to catch up
with your peers and share in the holiday spirit. Speaking of spirit, we will
honor longtime member George Hedrick with our Team Spirit Award. See you there!
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OVER & OUT
John Dycus, Fort Worth SPJ
Welcome, new eChaser contributors Texas Watchdog and the Freedom of Information
Foundation of Texas. Each month Laura Lee Prather and Keith Elkins at the FOIFT and Trent Seibert and his merry band of intrepids at Texas Watchdog will share the latest, which
will run after the PRSA local updates. It’s a vital service these organizations provide. Bad behavior never sleeps. We’re happy to shine a spotlight their way. ...
You say you figure you’ll be too busy or too tired or too deficient in holiday cheer to do the
Christmas party/JPS book benefit at Coors this Wednesday (Dec. 2)? What, are
you crazy? RSVP already. ...
Al Armendariz, an SMU professor who wrote a controversial study of air pollution caused by
Barnett Shale drilling, is the new regional administrator for the EPA’s Dallas office. “Dr. Armendariz is exactly the kind of person you’d want to have this job but seemingly never gets it,” said Jim Schermbeck of the clean-air group Downwinders at Risk. When he’s not muddying his positions to woo Republicans who will always hate him and
mock him for his trouble, President Obama can occasionally nail it. He did so with this appointment. ...
The Associated Press fact-checks Sarah Palin’s new book and finds it full of “familiar claims from the 2008 presidential campaign that haven’t become any truer over time.” She criticizes President Obama for pushing through a bailout package that actually was achieved by his
Republican predecessor — a package she seemed to support at the time. There’s more, much more.
Closing words: “A little nonsense now and then is cherished by the wisest men.” — Roald Dahl, author of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” ... “Show me a hero and I will write you a tragedy.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald ... “The Lord made Adam, the Lord made Eve, he made ’em both a little bit naive.” — lyricist Yip Harburg ... “I don’t make deals, I don’t party and drink with sources, and I don’t play a game of leaks. I read, I listen, I squirrel information. It’s fun.” — investigative journalist Seymour Hersh
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