The Lexington advertiser. [volume] (Lexington, Miss.) 1904-1985, 1961-11-30
(0pen Letter Continues From Page 0ne)

progress and prosperity enjoyed by any
community.
The newspaper is a mirror in
which a community is reflected. If it
is q fine, progressive community, it
will be reflected in the community's
newspaper. If it is not so good, then
this, too, will be reflected in the COM
munity newspaper. There are a few
good newspapers in sorry communities,
but il is q rare thing today to find a
mediocre newspaper in a good com
munity.
n good newspaper is an absolute
must in this modern age if any com
murity is to grow and be able to COM
pete. a successful industrialist always
looks TO the newspaper before he moves
into a community. Outsiders judge a
community largely BY the kind Of news
paper it has and supports.
The splendid record Of public serv-
ice and dedication to editorial respon-
sibility of this editor and my two
Holmes County newspapers is too well
known and recognized by everyone to
need any mention in these columns.
II 4 : =
Today there are two newspapers in
Lexington - and only one can survive:
just as we told you in the beginning.
There is no question in the minds
of anyone as to which newspaper it will
be.
The question is: how much frus-
t~ration, further intimidation ond eco
nomic loss the people of Lexington and
Holmes County must endure before the
Holmes County Herald closes its doors
forever to the great relief of everyone
concerned, including the majority of
its original hackers?
The very small pressure group OF
men. the real bosses, who fathered the
Herald have subjected Holmes County
generally and Lexington, particularly,
to a virtual reign of terror in the form
of pressure, direct and implied, both
economic and social.
These men have appointed them
selves as virtual d~ictators over n
people of Lexington and Holmes County,
to determine what all of us shall do,
say or think. They, set themselves up
in this dictatorship position by taking
control of the Citizens Council IN
Holmes County and exploiting it for
their own selfish purposes - to har-
ass and intimidate yes, and to destroy
those who would not go along with
them. The average member of the
Councils has about as much say-so as
a Chinese.
The establishment of their W
newspaper, the Holmes County Herald,
was designed to give them the voice
they needed to get complete control OF
this county, they thought. For some
reason, and | have never figured out
why, they seemed to think that having
a newspaper would give them a lot OF
power. At least it would give them the
opportunity to control the information
put out, control what they wanted the
people to hear, provided of cours they
could put the existing newspaper out
of business.
In this connection, hackers of the
Herald told potential stockholders it
was "a good six per cent investment"
which at the time most of them knew
to be untrue. They told potential sub
scribers Sin three months" there would
be only one newspaper in Lexington,
meaning they'd have your editor out
of business in that short time.
Well, It's been three hard, long,
trying years but the "old woman at
The Advertiser is still going strong -
with more subscribers and friends now
than she had that unlucky day for
Holmes. County when the Herald was
born.
And three years from now and
longer, God willing, | shall still be here
trying as best | can to serve you and
justify the faith, confidence and friend
ship you have shown throughout this
whole ordeal.