Sports editor — The Natchez Democrat

It's been a while since I was in Natchez, and I've since heard when the economy collapsed Natchez lost a lot of industry and took a pretty good hit.

Natchez is an old money town with much, much better food than Cleveland. Not much nightlife there, save the occasional trip to the bar or movie theater.

 

Cleveland, Ohio or Cleveland, Mississippi?

 

I know a person, works in a one-person shop save for stringer contributions.
When we were together, there were actually 3 of us, we all made 25.
Now, this person is the only guy and he makes over 40.
And he has no layout responsibility.
The layout was fun a lot of the time, but it was always the most time-consuming element of the small shop.
Now, he can put more creative time into his roundups of prep call-ins or other copy he produces and he's home sooner.
The byproduct is that there are fewer jobs available at the small shops.

 

No layout? He's lucky. Many at the one-horse pony stops do it all.

 

I know I did at another stop at the Magnolia State. It wears you down to a nub quickly.

 

Anybody heard anything? I applied two weeks ago, but other than Julie answering questions about staff and page count, have not heard a thing

 

It's Christmas.

 

Natchez is a sleepy little town with a ton of history and stuff to look at. Lots of old mansions, plantation homes, Civil War history, Indian reservations, bed and breakfasts, etc. There is all kinds of history, if you're into that kind of stuff you'll never get bored. The whole surrounding area is called "Miss-Lou" Right on the border with Louisiana. It's a pretty nice place to be if you like small town life.

As for the job, it's a tough one from everything I've heard. Not impossible, by any means, just be prepared to put a lot into it. Two-man operation and your No. 2 guy is typically a kid just out of college. The surrounding papers are all pretty good about sharing stuff as long as you're willing to reciprocate from time to time.

VERY good prep football in the area, particularly from the Louisiana side of the border where you have a couple of perennial small-school powerhouses and traditionally strong baseball as well.

I could see it being a fun job. If I weren't stranded in desolate Indiana I would apply for it in a heartbeat.

 

Well I'm told they have a No. 2 person and a clerk which is pretty good for a paper that size

 

I hope whoever gets this job does a better job at this than Jeff did. We quit doing swaps with them because they would never deliver stuff that was promised. We'd send them something one week, then ask for something from them the next week, we'd wait until deadline and nothing would ever turn up.

 

Tell it like it is.

 

I second that motion. You weren't the only one who got stiffed once or twice. I understand people get busy and people forget, but cripes, when you promise, you should deliver. A sticky note to yourself works well.

But Natchez isn't a bad town at all. There are some good bars and one of the better BBQ joints around, the Pig-Out Inn. You can't beat that pulled pork.

It's not too far from Baton Rouge and the preps on the Louisiana side are excellent. Natchez High is much better in football 30 years after the merger and the MAIS school there just won a state championship and has been good for a while.

But you will work like a proverbial head with the chicken cut off. Make no doubt about it.