Where are you from?

I am an Army brat, actually. I was born in Fort Gordon, Ga., but I grew up mostly in Enterprise. I call Enterprise my home.

How long have you been in journalism?

I&8217;ve been in journalism since I was about 16 years old. I started writing sport stories as a stringer for my hometown newspaper. I interned with The Birmingham News, and then I took a few years off after college to work with my family. Then I became a reporter at The Enterprise Ledger. Ever since then it&8217;s been pretty steady.

I worked out in Wyoming as the managing editor for the Northern Wyoming Daily News for a couple of years. The most fun part about that was that there was actually a ski resort on three sides (of where I worked) in the Big Horn Basin, right in the heart of the Big Horn Mountain, so in the winter it was great. I decided I needed to head back south once it snowed one July 1. Then I went to Griffin, Ga., where I was assistant managing editor at (the Griffin Daily News) for a couple of years. From there I went to the Statesboro Herald in Statesboro, Ga. I only stayed there for about six months because I was offered a managing editor position at The Union-Recorder at Milledgeville, Ga.

In 2006, the tornado

hit Enterprise, and my family is still down there so it was kind of time to come home at that point. So I came back to Enterprise and joined the The Messenger staff (in Troy) until I was offered the promotion to come here.

What is something you enjoy about your job?

One of the most meaningful for things for me … is that I was assigned to New York City in the wake of 9-11. That was a chance to do some good journalism and basically do something that mattered far beyond just the next byline. Other than that the most fun I&8217;ve had in journalism is being sports editor for the Herald or Troy. They were small towns that thought big. Both areas had great children and great parents to work with. It was really good.

What are some of your expectations for Demopolis?

As far as my job is concerned, I expect to work my tail off. I think that at a community newspaper you don&8217;t have any choice. The way I come into a job is like this is you don&8217;t automatically get respect, you have to earn it. I have to earn mine. When I earn that respect, I earn your trust

… then I think we can do some neat stuff.