The Overton Press, the newspaper of record for the City of Overton and Overton Independent School District, will close next month. June 2 will be the last issue.
Founded in 1930, The Press was the eighth – and most successful – newspaper of the town, following The Enterprise (1880), The Overton Opinion, The Overton Observer, The Sharpshooter (1886 to 1888), The Overton Herald (late 1800s), The Overton Eagle (1905), and The Telegram (1922).
Press editor Charlotte Heldenbrand will transfer to sister publication The Longview News-Journal to cover the Kilgore area. After majoring in journalism at Kilgore College, Heldenbrand began her professional journalism career at The News-Journal, working there from 1986-1989.
She earned a bachelor’s degree from The University of Texas at Tyler in 1991, and worked five years for The Big Sandy & Hawkins Journal before transferring to The Overton Press in 1999. Since that time, The Press has won 10 first place awards from the Northeast Texas Press Association and five first place plaques from the Texas Press Association. The sixth will be presented next month at the TPA convention in Rockwall.
“It’s never easy to say goodbye, especially after making so many friends in the communities of Overton, New London, Arp and Leverett’s Chapel,” Heldenbrand said. “The Press is just one more casualty of a tough economy and I’m sorry to see this town lose its newspaper. I look forward to working in my hometown, where I graduated from high school and attended college.”