Smallville Editor, Booted & Silenced

Not long after appointing a new man to assume control of the editorial reins of the Clute-based daily newspaper, publisher Bill Cornwell had a staff insurrection on his hands.

The tiny, overworked, underpaid staff did not like their new boss, Kelly Hawes, a native of Indiana, who was hired to replace the charismatic, ball-busting Fluffy Cash, who was promoted to Southern Newspapers' flagship property, The Baytown Sun.

Hawes, bespectacled with a balding mane, came from Southern's newspaper in Galveston, where his former colleagues privately expressed their happiness at pawning off the sullen newsman to the hinterlands of Brazoria County.

The staff at the Clute-based daily soon learned why their Galveston colleagues were chuckling at their good fortune. Unlike Cash, Hawes
communicated his wishes to staff members primarily via email or memos, rarely ventured outside his office and seemed to spend a large amount of his time surfing the Internet.

When confronted, however, Cornwall snuffed out the rank and file rebellion in its tracks, telling Yvonne Mintz, then one of his best young reporters, that Hawes was at the Clute-based daily to stay, no matter what anybody said. End of discussion.

The staff resigned itself to the status quo.

Last week, however, some three years later after nipping the staff revolt in its infancy, Cornball suddenly reversed field, sending Hawes packing and annointing Mintz as his replacement.

What happened?

Frankly, we have not a clue. Nobody in the know, including current and former employees of the Clute-based daily, is willing to share any tidbits concerning the management shakeup. Fear of retribution, as in all other institutions in the land of the First Amendment, reigns supreme. That is as it should be, for without fear, anarchy and nihilism would soon follow.

During his short time in Clute, Hawes cut a wide journalistic swath from his humble Main Street office, within sight of Brazosport's belching petrochemical plants.

His editorials sang with conviction and stinging prose. One of his best was published only a few months ago. It spoke movingly, yet dispassionately, about skin cancer awareness month, bringing the public vital information that they otherwise could have received only through a press release that had been sent to thousands of other media outlets throughout North America.

Then, of course, there were his many personal columns, many of which were clipped by readers and pasted in scrapbooks so that future generations of Brazoria Countians may read them when they come of age and can fully comprehend multi-syllabic words.

In those gems, Hawes wrote of the trials and tribulations, and the joys and celebrations, of raising his son Jake, of his anguish at the realization that his hair was falling out and of his personal shortcomings, such as his ineptitude at household repairs and his girl-like fear of small mammals that made their way into his abode.

Who else wrote of such things? No one in Southern Brazoria County. Ever. For that reason, his editorial voice will be missed, as will his steady hand at the helm of the hard-charging news hounds in Clute.

As with all newspapers everywhere when management turns over, the overseers at the Clute-based daily would not comment in their own pages on the whys and wherefores of Hawes' departure, hoping no one would notice, or care. They probably are right in that assessment, as newspaper readership is on an inexorable, downward slide, primarily because newspapers tend to be boring, staid, unimaginitive and, above all, SAFE.

As is customary in the newspaper industry, the announcment of Mintz's appointment as Hawes' replacement was made in a clumsily worded story that presumably was vetted by publisher Corndog himself. There was no explanation about where Hawes was going or why he was going. (Never mind that it asks such basic questions of other organizations when THEIR management changes, then whines when the answers are not forthcoming)

Tellingly, the newspaper's own story did not employ the customary boilerplate verbiage that Hawes was "leaving to pursue other opportunities," though it did make a point to quote Mintz as referring to the publisher as "Mr.," thus sending the message that the chain of command at the Clute daily, with the attendant titles of respect, remain in place, standing ready to serve advertisers' needs and interests, as well as those of the petrochemical industry. In other words, the work goes on, the dream goes on.

Because the newspaper did not announce that Hawes was leaving to pursue other opportunities, one must conclude there are no opportunities to pursue at the moment, but that surely will not be the case for long. A journalist with his high ethical standards, good "people skills," gift for pungent prose and keen news sense will not be unemployed for long, we feel certain. The management hierachy of the country's small market newspaper industry has thousands of editors and opinion makers with the identical talents and skills as Hawes, and surely there is room somewhere for him.