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Bill Salter
(Poor William) was Publisher
of the Odessa (Texas) American from late 1994, until June 2003
when he was named publisher emeritus. He retired as an employee
of Freedom Communications and the OA as of Dec. 1, 2008, after
31 years with Freedom. He has been in the newspaper business
as "printer's devil", reporter, photographer, editor and
publisher for more than 50 years.
He is a native of
Brady, Texas, but has lived all over
Texas and also in
Florida and
New Mexico. His column, "William Tells," has been
published since 1962, and has appeared in 12 different
newspapers. He is married (Sherry, who appears as "Miss Kitty"
in his columns) and has a son (Jeff, who appears in some columns
as "Yellowbeard Jr.").
Salter is active in civic, charity and church affairs in the
Odessa area. He is an advisory board member of the Salvation
Army and delivers for Meals on Wheels. He
has received the "Others" award from the Salvation Army, been
named a "Courageous Citizen" by the Odessa
Christian Coalition and was given the Key to the City of
Odessa by its mayor in 1998.
As a columnist,
reporter, photographer, editor and publisher, Salter and his
newspaper staffs won more than 400 state and national journalism
awards from 1972 through 2003. In the 1980s Salter was editor
of the Panama City News Herald in
Florida which was honored as runner-up to the
Denver Post for the
Pulitzer Prize for Community Service. The paper exposed
jailers of a rural county's sheriff's department who hung up
young black prisoners by their hands when they misbehaved.
Seven jailers were dismissed and faced criminal charges. In the
1970s, while editor of the Brownsville (Texas) Herald, the paper
exposed illegal activities within the federal
Manpower program which led to 21 indictments and
nomination of the paper for a
Pulitzer Prize by a state district judge who had convened
a court of inquiry because of the newspaper's reporting.
In 1975, Salter penned a small
volume called "Poor William's Almanack," in honor of the
tradition of
Benjamin Franklin. A limited number of the books recently
has been reprinted and may be purchased for a donation of more
than $20 to either the Salvation Army or Meals on Wheels.
Information on this or other aspects of this web site are
available from Salter by e-mail to
ageinc@apex2000.net
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