The Ellis County Press: Ferris WDL vote

Ferris WDL vote
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Editor on 04/10/2008 12:52:00


FERRIS - Shortly after last year's city council elections giving a competing
faction of voters a clear majority, the Ferris City Council voted to publish
their legal notices - state-required documents including bids and meeting
information - in the _Waxahachie Daily Light_.
The only snag in the set-up was the _WDL_ had no general circulation in the
town, as state law mandates.
When the news broke _WDL_'s parent company, American Consolidated Media, was
bought out by an Australian media conglomerate - a major investor in Gov. Rick
Perry's Trans-TX Corridor - that prompted former _Ellis County Press_ editor
Sheila Hatfield to jump in the 2008 city council race.
"I want to give the citizens [their] voice back," she said.
Hatfield faces incumbent Place 1 Councilman Rick Barrett on May 10.
Ferris officials voted for the newspaper switch, Hatfield said, because their
coverage of former police chief Jeff Cottongame exposed a network of corruption
and alleged illegal acts.
"Ferris taxpayers are paying a foreign investor to hide the information about
their town and to us, that's not good," said _ECP_ Publisher Charles Hatfield,
who bought the paper in 1992.