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Democrat-Gazette Cuts Include Columnists Fellone and Haymes

2 min read

Two of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s better-known columnists — Frank Fellone and Linda Haymes — were among the casualties of the latest job cuts at the Little Rock daily paper on Tuesday, but their columns are expected to endure on a contract basis.

The ongoing cuts will result in 12 to 15 job terminations, with other full-time employees cut back to part-time work, according to Lynn Hamilton, the paper’s president and general manager. 

Fellone spent nearly 20 years deputy editor before stepping back into a reporter’s role last summer. Over 38 years at the paper, he was the state editor, an op-ed writer and author of a weekly traffic and highways column, Drivetime Mahatma.

That column will probably continue, he said in a phone interview with Arkansas Business on Tuesday afternoon. 

“I was reduced in force today,” Fellone said. “I was part of a reduction in force at the Democrat-Gazette. But they generously offered the opportunity to continue the column, and I anticipate that it will continue.”

Haymes had been a columnist and features reporter for the newspaper for 26 years, most notably writing the Paper Trails column in the Arkansas section. 

“NEWS FLASH – I received my first pink slip this morning,” Haymes announced on her Facebook page. “I have loved my three decades in print journalism and will miss the work and my wonderful co-workers at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.”

The posting said the paper had “graciously” offered her freelance work, and Hamilton said he expected her column to continue on a contract basis. Reached by phone on Tuesday, Haymes said the post said all she needed to say. A Louisiana State University graduate, she wrote for Baton Rouge Magazine and was communications manager for the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau before her long tenure at the Democrat-Gazette.

Hamilton said the cuts would touch “nearly every department,” adding that the paper, owned by privately held Wehco Media Inc., has been leaving some jobs unfilled when staff members leave voluntarily. The cuts came on the heels of eight layoffs in January

“The situation of newspapers is no surprise to anybody,” he told Arkansas Business. “To remain profitable we have to adjust our expenses accordingly.”

Fellone offered an alternative narrative. “Well, you could argue the flip side, that it was time to cut off the worn out old codger, me. I had been part time since July, and I turned 66 about two weeks ago.”

His immediate future is clear, he said. “I plan to take my wife out for a nice dinner, and to sleep in tomorrow morning. Then I’m going to evaluate what’s right for us.

“But I want to say I’ve been enormously fortunate in my newspaper career,” Fellone concluded. “I’ve done a lot, loved every minute of it, and feel blessed. I’d also like to say that I have been treated at the Democrat-Gazette for the past 38 years with nothing but kindness, generosity and professionalism.”

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