10/3/01
AUBURN UNIVERSITY HOSTING ANNUAL 'MEDIA DAY' ON OCT. 20
AUBURN -- Two newspapermen, including the longtime publisher of The Tallassee Tribune and the founder of The Shelby County Reporter, will be inducted into the Alabama Newspaper Hall of Honor during Auburn University's annual Media Day on Oct. 20.
Herve Charest Jr. and Luther J. Fowler will be inducted posthumously by the Alabama Press Association.
The ceremony will begin at 10 a.m., in the Alabama Newspaper Hall of Honor Room in the Ralph Brown Draughon Library. Registration will start at 9:15.
Meanwhile, the Alabama Broadcasters Association will also meet on the Auburn campus. CBS Radio News' Peter King will speak to broadcasters during an hour-long session that begins at 9:30 a.m. at the James E. Foy Student Union, Room 213.
In addition to broadcast professionals, King's presentation will be open to Auburn students in the radio, television and film academic program.
A barbecue and musical entertainment on the north lawn of the library will follow the APA ceremony and broadcasters' meeting.
Charest and Fowler will be the 88th and 89th inductees into the Hall of Honor, which was established by the APA in 1959. Plaques honoring the pair will be placed in the Hall of Honor Room at the Draughon Library.
After a three-year stint in the Army Air Corps and several years with the Alabama Farm Bureau Federation, Charest purchased The Tribune in 1946 and served as its publisher for 24 years. Under his leadership, The Tribune won numerous awards for general excellence, editorial writing and design, including the 1966 Gov. George C. Wallace trophy for "Alabama's outstanding weekly newspaper exemplifying excellence in the promotion of the free enterprise system and good government in Alabama."
Charest, who was president of the APA in 1963-64, was noted for his paper's strong editorial stances. State Rep. Jack Venable of Tallassee, the current editor and publisher of The Tribune, says Charest "wasn't afraid to take an editorial stand on local, state or national issues."
In addition to his newspaper work, Charest was active in numerous civic and professional organizations and worked in public relations at the Alabama Department of Education after his career at The Tribune. He died in 1993.
After attending Alabama Polytechnic Institute (now Auburn University) and working as a history teacher at The Agricultural School in Albertville and the Alabama Girls Technical Institute (now the University of Montevallo) and serving as editor and publisher of The Albertville Banner for two years, Fowler purchased The Talladega Reporter in 1923 and moved it to Columbiana, renaming it The Shelby County Reporter. He owned and published the paper for 44 years, until 1967.
In addition to establishing The Reporter as one of the state's leading small newspapers, Fowler served his community as tax assessor, a member of the Board of Education and as a Sunday School teacher of 20 years. Through strong stances in support of education and development, Fowler's Reporter helped prepare Shelby County for the tremendous growth he anticipated and which eventually became reality.
"He envisioned that Shelby County would be a growth area some day," said Kim Price, editor of Tallapoosa Newspapers. "His writings make that clear. His work to secure U.S. Highway 280's route through Shelby County would become one of the most advantageous economic gestures this county has experienced since its founding."
Fowler died in 1971 at age 92.
oct01:AU-mediaday
CONTACT: Bob Lowry, 334/844-9999, Virginia Morgan, 334/844-5699; or CarolynWhatley, 334/844-5690.