In the photo left to right is Titus Workman, publisher of The Daily Herald and Robert Wick

Roger Bell
The Daily Herald Staff Writer

Artist Bob Wick, co-owner of Wick Communications, brought his personal art to Roanoke Rapids Thursday.
           
Wick, whose began sculpting in college and has pieces displayed in the Phoenix Botanical Garden, along with venues in Lakeland, Fla. and Akron, Ohio, can now add the garden beside The Daily Herald to the list of sites displaying his art. Wick’s latest sculpture, “Seated Torso,” made of silicon bronze, is the latest edition to the Roanoke Avenue streetscape, and Wick said he’s pleased to have it there and hopes people will come to see it for what he made it to be.
           
“Those lines that are in it are a metaphor for strata,” Wick, who, along with his brother Walter, owns Wick Communications, the company which owns The Daily Herald, said. “Not just Earth strata, human strata. We are formed, layer after layer, until we evolve into the people we are.”
           
Wick said the sculpture represents the unity between person and planet, with plants placed inside the torso in various locations to represent this unity.
           
“It’s inspired by Earth and the human figure,” Wick said. “I don’t see us as separate from the earth, we’re just an extension of it.”
           
Wick said “Seated Torso” took about a year to create and was one of the few sculptures he’s crafted which skipped the modeling process. Normally, he said, he will sketch an idea for a sculpture, then build a plaster model before moving onto the final rendering.      
           
“With this one it just worked after the sketch,” Wick said.
           
Wick’s sculpting began when his aunt, Dodde Wick, urged him to do a portrait sculpture of his uncle Jim, James T. Wick. After putting in some work, Wick was astonished to see the sculpture came out looking just like his uncle. Encouraged by this new-found talent, Wick continued to sculpt classmates and anyone else who wanted to be sculpted, then moved on from portraits to larger sculptures representing more abstract ideas, one of which, “Saint Earth,” took him 9 years to complete.
           
As time has passed, Wick has found his passion for art has increased, and is eager to get onto the next 7 to 10 years of his art, most of which is already in sculpture form. But even aside from his personal art, he is hoping getting his own art out there makes people realize, in some small way, the importance of art to the strength of any community.

“It’s important a community strives to have a sense of art and sees how we’re all tied together,” Wick said. “The poetic mind or spirit is the common denominator of all our hearts and souls.”

Lance Nixon

PIERRE — Long-time South Dakota news veteran Lance Nixon has been appointed  managing editor of the Pierre Capital Journal.

Nixon, 48, is a native of Frederick. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism from South Dakota State University and also earned a master’s degree in English from the University of North Dakota while working at the Grand Forks Herald. He is a former Fulbright scholar to Finland, where he studied Finnish folklore.

“We are very fortunate to have a person of Lance’s background and education at the Capital Journal,” said publisher Steve Baker. “As we take the newspaper in a new direction, we needed someone with Lance’s experience and steady hand.”

As a reporter, Nixon won first-place awards in breaking news and in features in state newspaper competitions while covering the South Dakota Legislature for the Aberdeen American News.

He later earned a quarterly Best of Gannett award while working as a business/agriculture reporter at the Argus Leader newspaper in Sioux Falls, earning industry awards for agricultural coverage at the same time.

For the past 10 years, he worked at SDSU as ag information editor and research news editor.

His freelance stories on a wide range of topics have appeared in publications such as South Dakota Magazine, Ethanol Today, BEEF Magazine, Biomass Magazine, and Touchstone Magazine.

He and his wife, Ruth, have five children.

“Lance has lived and worked in South Dakota for most of his life and knows and understands the people and the issues they face,” Baker said. “As we remake the Capital Journal over the next several months, he is exactly the right person to lead us through these changes.”

PHOENIX — The Sierra Vista Herald and the Tucson Weekly, both published by Wick Communications, won Arizona Newspaper of the Year awards during the Arizona Newspapers Association’s 2011 Better Newspapers Contest.

This year, 46 newspapers and 19 high schools entered the contest for a total of 1,186 entries.

In addition to the top honor among all Arizona newspapers, The Herald also received a number of individual awards.

Matt Hickman was awarded two top honors, earning a first place for his critical commentary on President Obama’s Middle East policy. Hickman received a third place award for best team or sports beat coverage for Buena High School Boys basketball.

Former Herald sports and education reporter Liz Manring won a first place award for her critical feature on “Banning Books in the 21st Century.” Manring also earned a second place award for her sports article, “Coaches Off Campus.”

Other awards received by The Herald included:

• Second for newspaper online site/webpage

• First for departmental news/copy editing excellence.

• Second for Editorial Page Excellence.

• First for Page Design Excellence

• First for Special Section/Newspaper supplement/magazine for 2010 Year in Review.

The Weekly dominated the individual writing categories in its circulation category (non-dailies with a circulation of more than 10,000), and won several newspaper-wide honors as well.

Beyond the Newspaper of the Year honor, the Weekly’s biggest award came in the Community Service/Journalistic Achievement category, for the coverage of the mass shooting on Jan. 8, 2011, that left six dead, and 13 others, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, wounded.

The 11 other awards earned by the Weekly:

• First place for Best Sustained Coverage or Series: Jim Nintzel, for his Congressional District 8 election coverage.

• First place for Investigative Reporting: Leo W. Banks, for “Smugglers’ Paradise” (Nov. 25, 2010), and his subsequent coverage of the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. Terry was killed in the line of duty in the Peck Canyon Corridor three weeks after Banks’ Nov. 25 piece warned of increasing dangers there.

• First place for Best Sports Story: Ton Danehy, for “Rez Ball” (March 3, 2011).

• First place for Best Column, Analysis or Commentary: Renée Downing, for “We Can Learn a Lot From Our Animals About How to Accept the Passage of Time” (April 28, 2011).

• Second place for Best Special Section: Best of Tucson® (Sept. 23, 2010).

• Second place for Best Column, Analysis or Commentary: Tom Danehy, for “Tom’s Modest Proposal for a Rewrite of the DREAM Act Bill” (Feb. 24, 2011).

• Second place for Best Column, Feature or Criticism: Stephen Seigel, for “Albums in Your Stocking” (Dec. 16, 2010).

• Second place for Best Multimedia Storytelling: Josh Morgan, for “Last Days of the UMC Memorial” (The Range, Feb. 7, 2011).

• Third place for Page-Design Excellence.

• Third place for Investigative Reporting: Tim Vanderpool, for “Your Tax Dollars at Work” (Nov. 18, 2010).

• Third place for Best News Feature Story: Mari Herreras, for “Honoring Chelsie” (May 6, 2010).

Randy Hoeft of the Yuma Sun, and Dave Brown of San Pedro Valley News-Sun and Arizona Range News (which are fellow Wick publications) were named the ANA 2011 Photographers of the Year. Brady McCombs of the Arizona Daily Star, and Shanna Hogan of Scottsdale Times were named the ANA 2011 Journalists of the Year. Dan Shearer of the Green Valley News-Sun (yet another Wick publication) and a team from the Star won Story of the Year honors.

Julie McLain

Julie McLain has been named director of advertising for the Green Valley News, The Sahuarita Sun and the Santa Cruz Valley Sun in Arizona

McLain has had a successful career in sales and marketing for print, online and broadcast, and she was a small-business owner in Minnesota. She joined the paper in the spring of 2011 and was named ad director in October.

"Julie has made a big impact in the short time shes been here," Publisher Pam Mox said. "She is a welcome addition to an already strong team that understands the needs of local businesses and wants to serve our readers."

McLain served with several organizations while in Minnesota, including a term as president of the Minnesota chapter of American Women in Radio and Television, secretary of the Grand Avenue Business Association, and as a member of the Advertising Federation of Minnesota.

"I cant imagine a better market in which to advertise in the newspaper," McLain said. "The demographic of Green Valley reads and relies on newspapers and the Green Valley News reaches about 80 percent of the residents. Our readers read our paper not just to find out what is happening in our community but also to find out what our businesses are promoting. They view ads as content."

Deb Hershon has announced her upcoming retirement as Half Moon Bay Review publisher

Time flies when you’re having fun, which is probably why 20 years just went by in the blink of an eye.

When I started at the Review in 1991, my two young children used to come to the office after school to check in and do their homework. Now they are grown and out on their own — my daughter turning 30 this year with a baby of her own, my son, 27, making his way in the world.

While I consider them to be the greatest accomplishment in my life, it has also been a privilege and an honor to be the publisher of this newspaper for the last two decades. The time has come, however, for me to move on as well.

At the end of this year, I will be retiring from the newspaper industry and taking a short sabbatical that will include some travel, some downtime, and a move to Marin County, where my husband works.

In 20 years at the paper, I’ve seen so many changes — giant leaps in technology with new and improved forms of communication that include advancements in digital and mobile platforms. We’ve come a long way since the days of hot wax, paste up and X-Acto knives.

Yet at its core, the Review has always held on to the one constant — a commitment to quality journalism — that has made this paper a community mainstay for more than 113 years. I don’t think that’s about to change any time soon.

I have been very lucky to work with some really amazing people over the years — employees here at the Review as well as people within the community. I know when the time comes to say goodbye in a few months, it will be very difficult to leave what has become a home-away-from-home, and the people who are like second family to me.

But I won’t say goodbye just yet, and plan to stay long enough to create a smooth transition in management, close out 2011 and make certain plans for 2012 remain strong and stable.

Thank you all for your past and continued support.