Walker Magazine | Winter 2023

PAST CONTRIBUTORS

Employees of The Mountain Eagle (1872-1960) and the Daily Mountain Eagle (1960-2022)

From the

Many stories have appeared in the Daily Mountain Eagle over the years about businesses that have marked significant anniversaries – 25, 50 or 70 years in operation. However, I would venture to say that most people, including the staff, would not have guessed that Jasper’s oldest business is the Eagle itself.

In fact, the paper is older than the City of Jasper. The first Mountain Eagle rolled off the press in 1872, and Jasper was not incorporated until 1886.

The Eagle, which began as a weekly and became a daily in 1960, is one of dozens of newspapers that has covered the history of Walker County in the past 150 years, but it is the only one that has survived.

For any business to keep its doors open for 150 years is impressive. For a community newspaper to do it given all the changes and challenges unique to the industry is practically a miracle.

We are not Alabama’s oldest newspaper. The history of the Montgomery Advertiser goes back to 1829. However, we are older than the Birmingham News, which was established in 1888.

Brenda Anthony, Rich Mixon, Liz Steffan

Walker Magazine is a publication of and distributed seasonally by the Daily Mountain Eagle, a division of Paxton Media Group. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or stored for retrieval by any means without written consent from the publisher. Walker Magazine is not responsible for unsolicited materials and the publisher accepts no responsibility for the contents or accuracy of claims in any advertisement in any issue. Walker Magazine is not responsible for errors, omissions or changes in information. The opinions of contributing writers do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the magazine and its publisher.

Our mission is to promote Walker County and to showcase its many attributes as a quality place in which to live, to work and to play. We welcome ideas and suggestions for future editions of the magazine. Just send us a brief note via email.

© 2023 Daily Mountain Eagle

WALKER MAGAZINE

P.O. Box 1469

Jasper, AL 35502 (205) 221-2840 email: walkermagazine@mountaineagle.com

Though an interest in history often goes hand­in­hand with a journalist’s task to cover current events, I have also found it to be true that a newspaper is not the best place for preserving the work that we hope will outlast us.

Thankfully, past Eagle staffers have written extensively at times about the paper’s history, including for the 100th anniversary in 1972 and for the opening of the current office in 1980. Those special sections, combined with a series of articles and photos on file in my new work home, the Elizabeth T. Wiggins Heritage Room at Carl Elliot Regional Library, were invaluable as we attempted to condense 150 years of history into one commemorative issue.

At one point, there was talk of including a list of famous front pages in this tribute, but ultimately, I realized that this was not supposed to be about events covered or awards won but about the generations of employees who have passed through the Eagle’s doors. Though their names and faces weren’t always known to our readers, they are the reason that the paper has lasted so long.

My time at the Eagle officially comes to an end with the publication of this magazine. Before I go, I want to take this one last opportunity to thank the people who embraced me as part of this crazy family we call the Bird Bunch.

It was an honor to do this work and experience all the ups and downs with you for 15 years. I love you. This one’s for y’all.

Jennifer Cohron, Outgoing

What’sInside

42

MAN OF HONOR Remembering Doug Pearson Jr. 44

THE EAGLE TAKES FLIGHT Origins of the paper from 1872­1960

GIVING BACK History of the Eagle Christmas Shoe Fund 50

A NEW ERA BEGINS

The Eagle becomes a daily

FINAL PRESS RUN Sept. 16, 2022, printing marks end of an era 54

A TRIBUTE TO THE EAGLE A poem from a reader in 1910

GetHooked!

HISTORIC PRESS PURCHASE

DME moves to offset printing

For your entertainment we have placed this fishing hook (actual size) within the pages of Walker Magazine. This will be a permanent feature for our readers. We hope you enjoy searching for the fishing hook in each issue.

DME AT WORK

Photo gallery of employees from 1950s to present day

HINT: Invert this page to reveal the page number.

Find the hook hiding on Page 45.

ON THE COVER

Daily Mountain Eagle logos from the past

Our license to publish:

shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

“Congress

Daily Mountain Eagle newsroom, circa 1980

“The Eagle covers Walker like the morning dew”

“The Eagle covers Walker like the morning dew”

Story by Jennifer Cohron Photography from the DME Archive

The Rev. John Anthony had a problem.

Anthony, an elder of the Methodist Church in Tuscaloosa, needed a printing press hauled to Jasper, which in 1872 had a population of only a few hundred and was still 14 years away from being incorporated.

Eighteen­year­old James M. Williams met Anthony by chance when he traveled to Tuscaloosa from his home in Holly Grove to deliver a load of cotton. Williams agreed to make the delivery but only if he could stop by his home on the way to Jasper.

At the time, it was a four­day round trip by wagon from Holly Grove to Tuscaloosa, and Williams did not want his parents to worry if he did not return on time.

Williams would repeat the story of how he became The Mountain Eagle’s first subscriber several times in the paper’s first half­century. In one version, he accepted a threeyear subscription to the Eagle in exchange for the $3 that he had agreed to charge Anthony. In another, he received $1 in cash and Anthony gave him a two­year subscription.

Williams is also credited with giving the paper its name.

“During the two­day trip, it was remarked that due to the mountainous terrain, only an eagle could get to some of the homes in Walker County. The Rev. John Anthony replied that the paper he was going to

“A newspaper in a small country town remote from a railroad was an uncertain venture at that time; but to the surprise of the doubting ones, if not the owners themselves, the Eagle was a success from the start.”

“A newspaper in a small country town remote from a railroad was an uncertain venture at that time; but to the surprise of the doubting ones, if not the owners themselves, the Eagle was a success from the start.”

publish would find its way into every home in the county –from the highest peak to the darkest cave,” The Mountain Eagle reported in May 1960.

Albert, or A.B., Persinger is credited with being The Mountain Eagle’s co­founder and first editor. The Tuscaloosa native was also the publisher at the Northport Spectator and the Birmingham Iron Age before moving to Nebraska, where he reportedly became a wealthy landowner and helped settle the western part of the state.

A.B. Persinger

glass dome of First United Methodist Church of Jasper, bought The Mountain Eagle in 1880 when he was 21 years old and consolidated it with the Walker County Times.

“A newspaper in a small country town remote from a railroad was an uncertain venture at that time; but to the surprise of the doubting ones, if not the owners themselves, the Eagle was a success from the start,” the paper’s editors wrote in an 1891 special edition.

The paper’s early years were defined by changes in leadership, starting over after repeatedly being struck down by fire and the rapid growth of Jasper.

Persinger’s brother, Winfield, soon bought out his interest in The Mountain Eagle. Several sources point to Judge F.A. Gamble, a local probate judge, owning the paper for a short time before selling it back to Winfield Persinger in 1878 after a fire that destroyed the Walker County Courthouse also burned the home of The Mountain Eagle as well as its equipment.

“The paper lost nearly everything except its books and goodwill. The press, type, files of the paper and all office fixtures were entirely destroyed, but not an issue of the paper was missed,” The Mountain Eagle reported in the 1891 edition.

In “History of Walker County,” author John Martin Dombhart detailed the influence of L.B. Musgrove on The Mountain Eagle in its formative years. Musgrove, a businessman and philanthropist whose lasting legacies include Musgrove Country Club and the white marble and stained­

Samuel Gunter, a lawyer who moved to Jasper from Pickens County and had been the editor of the Walker County Times since July 1878, became The Mountain Eagle’s new editor. According to Dombhart, Gunter left The Mountain Eagle in 1884 to start another paper, The True Citizen. After it folded, he returned and served until his death in 1890.

Judge F.A. Gamble

With Musgrove at the helm, the paper took a stand in the mid­1880s against railroad companies that were seeking rights of way and land grants throughout the county.

“Its enemies declared it (the Eagle) was opposed to progress and the development of the country, but the paper kept up the fight and finally won it. The people were, in the end, convinced of the folly of giving away their valuable mineral lands just for the asking, and since that time the Eagle has been on top,” the paper, which then claimed “a larger circulation than any other weekly in the state,” reported in 1891.

However, it was the arrival of the railroad that caused the population of Jasper to grow almost overnight from a few hundred to several thousand by 1890.

“The time seems short but what wonderful changes have taken place during the time in this

county. Then there was no railroad within 25 miles. Now we have three splendid lines. Then Jasper was the only town in the county. Now there are prosperous towns in every direction,” The Mountain Eagle’s editors wrote in an 1896 article celebrating the paper’s first quarter century.

The same article reported that the paper had “twice been burned out of house and home and the business part of our town nearly all reduced to ashes, but now we have a town of brick walls and the Eagle is visiting weekly one thousand homes of the best people in the world.”

(The paper would be the victim of two more fires in the early 20th century – one in 1922 and another in 1948.)

The Mountain Eagle was typical for papers of its time – six columns, no photos with a subscription rate of $1 a year.

In 1893 the paper’s owners took the bold step of hiring carriers to deliver The Mountain Eagle to local homes – a business move that the paper claimed had never been tried in Jasper.

The decision was explained this way: “The business man gets the paper at his place of business, reads it, lays it aside and that is the last of it. His wife and family, who are very much interested in the home paper, never get to see it. No extra charge will be made for delivering the paper regular every week, and we believe that none of our businessmen could invest a dollar for his family that would be more enjoyed or profitably spent.”

Two of Samuel Gunter’s sons followed him as editor. J.R. Gunter served from 1890 until his own death in 1914, and W.W. Gunter served until his retirement in 1959, which made him the paper’s longest­serving editor.

The Richardson family also served the paper for several generations in both production and management. W.R. Richardson went to work for Musgrove as a young man and continued until his death in 1916. His family retained an ownership interest after his death.

Musgrove incorporated The Mountain Eagle Publishing Company in 1916. Control passed to John Whitt Long after Musgrove’s death in 1931. The company was purchased in 1939 by E.H. Pierce, Capt. W.M. Massey, W.W. Gunter and Eva Richardson.

Pierce, 35, was named publisher of the paper. He retired as publisher and president of The Mountain Eagle Publishing Company in 1954 on his 50th birthday.

January 1960 marked not only the start of a new decade but a new era in the paper’s history as well. An incoming publisher, Donald White, started the process of converting Walker County’s oldest business, an 88­year­old weekly newspaper, into the Daily Mountain Eagle.

“A whole new world for newspapers”

“A whole new world for newspapers”

The announcement was made in January 1960 that Donald White of Tennessee had purchased Jasper's three weekly newspapers — The Mountain Eagle, The Jasper Advertiser and The Walker County Times — with plans to offer a daily paper.

White was a native of Bristol, Tennessee, and had served for several years as vice president of two daily newspapers in Bristol, Tennessee, and adjacent Bristol, Virginia.

"I have been interested in finding a newspaper property for several months and I am happy over the selection of Jasper," White said. "After surveying several Southern cities, I was impressed by the growth and future possibilities of this area and I'm sure I will enjoy becoming part of such a fine community."

The Mountain Eagle and The

Jasper Advertiser were both owned by E.H. Pierce, who had been in Jasper since 1931. Pierce had worked for both papers before purchasing The Jasper Advertiser. He acquired The Mountain Eagle in 1939. The two papers had merged during World War II, but The Jasper Advertiser had relaunched in September 1959 as a Monday morning newspaper.

"The idea of a daily newspaper for Jasper has long been a dream of mine and it is my sincere hope the new owners will be able to carry out their plans very quickly," Pierce said.

Story by Jennifer Cohron Photography from the DME Archive

Daily Mountain Eagle makes history with press purchase in 1965

Story by Nicole Smith | Clippings from the DME Archive

The Daily Mountain Eagle made history on July 28, 1965, by printing the first newspaper of its kind in the area with the new Fairchild News King press.

It was the largest newspaper ever printed in Walker County at 56 pages, made up of seven sections that were eight pages each. The Daily Mountain Eagle also started incorporating color in three basic shades.

"This is truly a historic day for us and Walker County," thenpublisher Aaron Parsons said at the time, "and we are extremely proud to be a part of an expanding Walker County."

Purchasing the Fairchild News King press — a transition from the flatbed press — was part of a more than $200,000 expansion that also included a move for the Daily Mountain Eagle to 2026 3rd Avenue in Jasper. the first of seven versions of the new “offset” Daily Mountain Eagle. The Eagle began printing on a new Fairchild “offset” today. Today’s paper is the largest ever printed in Walker County – – 56 pages.

The Walker County Times was owned by Bill Jones and Jay Thornton. Jones, a former Eagle publisher, had left the paper in 1954 to work in Washington D.C. for Congressman Carl Elliott and would go on to be George Wallace's press secretary when he was elected governor.

Eagle readers heard more extensive comments from White when he submitted a "Publisher's Pledge" to be printed on the front of the Jan. 28, 1960, issue:

"For many years the Mountain Eagle has been a force in the county. It has been a force for good as opposed to evil; it has been active in promoting the welfare of the community. Its news content has been presented without fear or favor, and it has been aggressive in supporting those issues it sincerely believes in. We can do no less than to bend our efforts toward the continuation of those policies.

"In every profession there are so-called ethics or principles under which honest men of good intent strive to conduct the affairs of their profession. In no other profession do these affairs come under such close scrutiny by the public as do those of a newspaper publisher, and rightly so for it is his prime responsibility to report the news in a fair and impartial manner, thus guaranteeing the maintenance of a 'free press.' We hold to this basic freedom and shall practice its applications at all times."

The Fairfield News King, made in Joplin, Missouri, was referred to as an "offset" press.

modern, up-to-date reproductions now available anywhere.

"The word offset comes from the process of offsetting the image from a plate to blanket before contacting the paper," reporting in the Daily Mountain Eagle from July 28, 1965, reads. "One of the most complex parts of the new process is the big camera that photographs the pages after they have been layed out and pasted into position. After the page size negative has been developed, it will be burned into a metal plate in the press room and then transferred to the press where the signal to go will be all that is needed."

The Fairfield News King press promised better photo and advertisement reproduction and could print, fold and count up to 15,000 newspapers an hour, which Parsons said, "offers extreme high-quality printing at four times the speed of our old operation."

The Daily Mountain Eagle had over 2 million feet of paper stored at the time to use on the new press.

PRACTICE RUN– Employes of the Daily Mountain Eagle get press ready for first run. The new, all modern News King will give the people of Walker County the very best in news reproduction.

Publisher Shelton Prince sits at his desk in the new Daily Mou

The lobby of the Daily Mountain Eagle is seen shortly after the

When the big day arrived a few minutes before midnight on Sunday, May 1, 1960, Jasper Mayor Herman Maddox pressed the button that started the presses rolling on the first issue of Walker County’s first daily newspaper.

The paper office was flooded with phone calls, telegrams and visits from well­wishers on Monday, May 2, 1960.

“The outer office was filled with colorful flowers sent by friends and well­wishers, and the business counter was crowded by people placing new subscription orders,” the Daily Mountain Eagle reported the next day.

The Daily Mountain Eagle would be published Monday through Friday for the next 26 years. A Sunday edition followed in June 1986 and a Saturday edition was launched in 1998.

It began as a morning paper but converted just a few years later to an afternoon paper.

Five years after transitioning from a weekly to a daily, another major change was in store when the Daily Mountain Eagle adopted offset printing, which replaced the traditional Linotype machine.

Fifty­four years had passed since the last technological advancement in printing. In 1906, The Mountain Eagle started using a typesetting machine that replaced setting lines of type by hand.

With offset printing, no longer would letters and lines of copy be produced from molten lead. Within the industry, the new method was referred to as a switch from hot type to cold type.

“For a long time, it was hard, hot work,” Robin “Rip” Boteler, an employee of the Eagle for 54 years, would recall in 1980. “Now it’s easy and pleasant. You can wear a coat and tie to work if you want because it’s not messy.”

More than $200,000 was invested in the new offset press, which could print, fold and count 15,000 newspapers an hour. The first issue printed on it was heralded as the largest newspaper ever printed in Walker County – 56 pages.

Changing to offset not only allowed for clearer reproductions but also allowed the Daily Mountain Eagle to print in color. The paper reported that three basic colors could be printed on the new Fairchild press. Though photos were still printed in black and white, red and blue were used to emphasize leading headlines in the first issue.

The 1970s brought more change and cause for celebration.

In 1972, the Daily Mountain Eagle celebrated 100 years of continuous service to Walker County readers. Gov. George Wallace proclaimed Oct. 28, 1972, as Daily Mountain Eagle Day.

A full­page ad recapped how much the paper had grown since its founding. Jasper Newspapers Inc. published not only the Daily Mountain Eagle but The Community News and The Marion County Journal as well.

The company employed 48 people, had a total average annual payroll of $182,000 and used over 700 tons of newsprint annually.

Both the Daily Mountain Eagle and The Community News had been recognized by the Alabama Press Association as best in their respective classes, having received first place awards for outstanding advertising, general excellence and community service.

At 84 pages, the centennial issue took over the spot of largest newspaper ever printed in Walker County.

The paper’s first computer system

ntain Eagle office in 1980.

e new office opened on Viking Drive in 1979.

"Quality improvement in pictures was one of our most pressing needs," Parsons said. "Now we feel that we can outdo almost any newspaper in the pleasing reproduction of our pictures and the general improvement of the entire newspaper."

The offset printing process was described in much more technical detail in the July 28, 1965 edition: "The full page paste-up will then be taken to the process camera darkroom where it will be photographed into a full page 18x23 inch negative. The negative is developed, dried and layed down on a glass top table with lights set underneath to allow reading of the negative.

"Opaquing is done on this light table. A small brush is used to black out pinholes in the negative, created by dust or other imperfections. Next, two full-page negatives are matched together and placed on top of a photographically presensitized aluminum plate. A Nu-Arc Flip-Top plate burner with carbon arc lamps burns light through the negative and into the aluminum plate where the image is engraved.

"The aluminum plate, .009 of an inch thick, is then clamped on the offset press plate cylinder and is ready for printing. The image of the full page is offset from the aluminum plate to a rubber blanket which transfers the image of the newsprint web as it is pulled through the press.

Because of this offset process, which prints with a gentle kiss impression of .003 of an inch, the paper is printed with cleaner and clearer reproduction."

Another change at the Daily Mountain Eagle was the purchase of "justowriters" to replace linotype machines.

"The new machine used in offset printing is about the size of a typewriter where the old linotype is about eight feet high," the Daily Mountain Eagle reported.

The Daily Mountain Eagle referred to the new investments as "a new era in newspaper printing."

"The Daily Mountain Eagle, in buying this new press, is seeking greater ways of serving our readers and our advertisers," Parsons said. "The purchase of the new News King and the purchase of a new building will provide us with the facilities to give the people of Jasper and Walker County a better newspaper."

was installed in 1978, and the paper moved to its current location on Viking Drive in December 1979.

A special issue was published in February 1980 to commemorate the move.

The new 15,000­square­foot building had come with a $1 million price tag– $750,000 for the land and construction and $300,000 for a Web Leader press.

“We look at this building as an investment in Walker County,” publisher Shelton Prince said. “We could have built a building much more inexpensively than we did, but we wanted it to be a credit to the community…We wanted it to be something the county could take pride in, because we firmly believe this newspaper belongs to the county.”

The next move would be a figurative one. In January 1998, the paper announced its first website. “Daily Mountain Eagle soars on web,” the headline proclaimed.

"We may not be the biggest paper in the state but we will stand behind no one when it comes to imple­

menting technology to better serve our community and maintain our position as Walker County's news leader," editor and publisher Doug Pearson said. "What we're doing now is laying the groundwork for an amazing future where we can do things like audio and video clips, interactive discussions, and online town hall meetings. It will be a whole new world for newspapers and we're proving that we'll be a part of it."

Pearson, who died in 2004 after having served 24 years as Eagle publisher, could not have foreseen the impact, both positive and negative, that the Internet would have on the newspaper industry.

Similarly, the editors of The Mountain Eagle in 1896 made no predictions about what the future held, only promises that the paper would play its part: “Who can contemplate the changes to take place within the next quarter of a century? The Eagle will always be found advocating and striving for changes that will elevate and better the condition of the people and the upbuilding of our institutions.”

“Other papers have been started, lived a few months and gone down; but the Eagle, while it has frequently met with adversaries, has weathered every storm and has every assurance of being here for the next quarter of a century to battle for the rights of the people and the best interest of Jasper and Walker.”

“Other papers have been started, lived a few months and gone down; but the Eagle, while it has frequently met with adversaries, has weathered every storm and has every assurance of being here for the next quarter of a century to battle for the rights of the people and the best interest of Jasper and Walker.”

DME at work

DME at work

DME at work

DME at work

DME at work

DME at work

| Ralph Douglas Pearson Jr. |

“He brought honor to the newspaper industry”

“He brought honor to the newspaper industry”

Daily Mountain Eagle employees lost a beloved boss and mentor and Walker County lost a friend when Doug Pearson died on July 9, 2004.

Pearson, 66, had served as the paper’s editor and publisher since April 1980. After his death, columns and letters to the editor ran for several weeks from current and former Daily Mountain Eagle staffers who wanted to share the impact that Pearson had had on their lives.

He was active not only within the walls of the newspaper but also in local civic organizations and in the Alabama Press Association (APA), where he was a past president.

“Doug was beloved to our entire staff,” Felicia Mason, the executive director of the APA, said in 2012.

Wassmann worked for Pearson at the Tribune and later became assistant to the publisher when Pearson became editor and publisher at the Eagle in 1980.

“As far as Doug was concerned, his family was the newspaper,” Wassmann, who succeeded Pearson as publisher, said in 2012. “He was very much interested not only in their well­being but the well­being of their families.”

Wassmann recalled a program that Pearson had for helping young parents at the Daily Mountain Eagle save for their children’s college tuition.

“He would call them in his office and tell them they were getting a raise, but they wouldn’t see the raise on their paycheck. He was putting it into an annuity for their children so that when they got to be of college age, they would have funds available to go to college, if they so desired,” Wassmann said.

While serving as the Eagle’s publisher, Pearson spearheaded community campaigns to purchase outdoor weather sirens and automated external defibrillators for every school within the county.

His daughter, Sheila Pearson, paid him the ultimate tribute for a longtime journalist when he was inducted into the APA Hall of Honor in 2012: “He was well­respected in the communities he served, and he was wellliked. He brought honor to the newspaper industry.”

Pearson was a native of Tuscaloosa and a 1959 graduate of the University of Alabama. While in college, he began his newspaper career working as a part­time salesman for The Graphic, a weekly. He later worked for The Tuscaloosa News.

He was an ad salesman at The Maryville­Alcoa (Tenn.) Daily News before becoming general advertising manager at The Montgomery Advertiser and Alabama Journal in 1963.

Two years later, at age 27, he became editor and publisher of The Cedartown (Ga.) Standard.

In 1972, he became editor and publisher of The Chillicothe (Mo.) Constitution Tribune, the hometown newspaper of Jerome Wassmann.

He supported the Walker County Humane Society and had a notorious soft spot for animals, keeping dog food and water in his car in case he came across a stray.

In 2012, Wassmann recalled a time when a mouse was discovered in the newspaper office. Instead of killing it, Pearson used a humane trap to capture it and then set it free in nearby woods. When Wassmann pointed out the likelihood that the mouse would find its way back, Pearson replied, “Well, we’ll just catch him again.”

Pearson’s most lasting professional contribution, however, was the creation of the Eagle Christmas Shoe Fund, which was established in December 1991 to provide new shoes and coats to area children.

At the time of Pearson’s death, it was estimated that the program had served more than 25,000 children. The Eagle Christmas Shoe Fund continues to this day.

“We referred to him as our Idea President. He was always coming up with ideas of how we could provide more services and do more things for our members.”

Story by Jennifer Cohron | Photograph from the DME Archive

The Eagle Christma s Shoe Fund

Giving back

The Eagle Christmas Shoe Fund

A new Walker County holiday tradition was born when Daily Mountain Eagle editor and publisher Doug Pearson announced the launch of the Eagle Christmas Shoe Fund in mid­November 1991.

Pearson said he started the effort to collect shoes for area children after "opening my eyes and looking around." Conversations with Department of Human Resources employees and a local businessman who helped families who had fallen on hard times confirmed the need for such a project.

Pearson estimated that the paper would need to buy between 1,300 and 1,500 pairs of sneakers, which would be distributed by the Fraternal Order of Police through its Toys for Tots program and the East Walker Rotary Club's Christmas

Shopping Spree for Needy Children.

"This is going to take a lot of money, but I'm confident the people, civic groups, businesses and industries of Walker County will come through," Pearson said.

He added, "If just 10 percent of our subscribers will buy a pair of $15 sneakers, we will reach our goal with room to spare."

Several days later, Susan May made the first contribution to the fund. By Dec. 1, donations exceeded $11,000.

Shoes and toys were distributed on Dec. 14, 1991, at the FOP

Story by Jennifer Cohron Photography from the DME Archive

Lodge. Approximately 1,000 children were served.

Several Eagle employees took part in the giveaway and became emotional as they witnessed family after family walk away with bags filled with toys.

“For Tammy Fowler, newsroom secretary at the Eagle, the impact came in tears, all thanks to a little girl and a pair of Little Mermaid sneakers – ‘That little girl was about the same age as my daughter. It really touched me. It made me realize how much we have at Christmas and how much we have to be thank ful for,’” Daily Mountain Eagle staff writer Paul South in an article about the giveaway.

The paper reported on Dec. 17, 1991, that more than $17,000 had been raised through the inaugural Shoe Fund campaign — far more than was needed. As a result, Pearson announced that the Eagle would take applications from parents whose children had not been served by the FOP or East Walker Rotary Club. The plan was to distribute an additional 300 to 400 pairs of shoes.

When the program began, Daily Mountain Eagle employees and vol­

unteers purchased actual shoes to distribute to youth 18 and under. Eventually, a voucher­based system was adopted.

The Eagle Christmas Shoe Fund also soon expanded to include the distribution of winter coats.

For many years, the Eagle Christmas Shoe Fund operated alongside Share A Toy of Walker County, a separate nonprofit that distributed toys to area children. For the benefit of area families, the two programs

shared an application process and distribution day.

Traditionally, Daily Mountain Eagle employees and teenage volunteers participating in the Walker County Chamber of Commerce’s Junior Ambassadors program manned the phones as hundreds of calls poured in from the last week of October through mid­November.

This year, Eagle General Manager Michael Keeton announced a new partnership with Salvation Army of

Walker County that now has the Salvation Army in charge of accepting applications and distributing the shoe vouchers.

In December 2004, the Eagle Christmas Shoe Fund giveaway was held for the first time since Pearson’s death. More than 2,000 children received shoes, coats and toys that day.

Among those who stood in line outside the Alabama National Guard Armory on Highway 69 were a mother of two, ages 1 and 7, whose husband made only $200 a week, another mother with health problems whose husband had recently left her to raise a 12­year­old and 10­year­old alone, and a couple with

three children who had signed up because the husband was recovering from back surgery and was out of work.

“The good Lord is looking out for us,” one person said of the Eagle Christmas Shoe Fund.

Jerome Wassmann, who had recently been named publisher, said Pearson was always glad to know that the paper could help make Christmas a little brighter for area families.

"The shoe and coat project was his project," Wassmann said. "He always took a great deal of pride and joy seeing families served. He felt a newspaper was part of the community and felt it should give back to the community. This was his way to do it."

The final press run The final press run

The Daily Mountain Eagle was printed in Jasper for the final time on Friday, Sept. 16, 2022. Production then moved to The Daily Corinthian facility in Corinth, Mississippi.

Thank you to the many dedicated Eagle employees who through the years got ink first on their hands and then in their blood.

Daily Mountain Eagle employess who completed the final local press run were (from left) Brian Parrish, Chase Jones, Michael Keeton, Elane Jones, Josh Taylor and Carter Godsey.

Photography by Jennifer Cohron

“The Mountain Eagle is proud of the fact that it is the oldest going concern in Walker County…

“The Mountain Eagle is proud of the fact that it is the oldest going concern in Walker County…

Every week the Mountain Eagle reaches more adults than the schools of Walker County; more adults peruse its columns every week than pass through the church doors.

Every week the Mountain Eagle reaches more adults than the schools of Walker County; more adults peruse its columns every week than pass through the church doors. This brings a responsibility for faithful service and progress.”

This brings a responsibility for faithful service and progress.”

Written by Mr. Hyche - May

There is an Eagle in Walker. Now in Jasper it can be found. It’s a sweet singer and talker And carries the news ‘round and ‘round.

For many years it has stood the storm And never stopped for rain or snow: ‘Til it gives to you the alarm Of the many things that you do not know.

To many points it takes its flight And never stops to eat, sleep or drink Until it gets within your sight To tell you the news link by link.

It tells you of the Southern clime Where the tropical fruit can be found. It tells you of the boundary line Between us and others around.

It tells you of the Western Shore Where the rocky rejoins abound Where you can see the ocean o’er And the settling sun goes down and down.

It tells you of the frigid zone And the talks with their lofty peaks. Then sails away to England’s throne To tell you of the kingly seat.

It tells you of the Eastern shore And it can tell you all the rest; If you wish to know any more Just drop one dollar in the nest.