Edgemon tapped as interim managing editor
Catherine Edgemon, assistant editor of the Walker County Messenger, was tapped last week as the interim managing editor of the Calhoun Times.
Edgemon succeeds Daniel Bell who resigned Nov. 30. Bell had led the newspaper since taking the helm in summer 2019.
“Of all the jobs I have had in my career, I’ve enjoyed my time at the newspaper the most because I used my writing and research experience to explain the news for readers,” she said. “Readers can draw their own conclusions when they have correct information, and armed with that information, they can make informed decisions.”
Edgemon worked for News Publishing Co., the former parent company of the Calhoun Times and Walker County Messenger, from 1999-2005. During her time at the Messenger and Catoosa County News, she covered Tri-State Crematory, the execution of a convicted killer and the 87-car pile-up that closed Interstate 75 for a day in 2002, as well as government and school news.
After leaving the newspaper, she worked in economic development at the local government level in three different communities. She wrote a OneGeorgia grant for $500,000 to construct a new airport terminal in northwest Georgia, and her Rural Zone application for Perry resulted in one of the first designations awarded in Georgia.
She shepherded two Georgia communities through the Main Street designation process and supervised their annual accreditation activities. Main Street is
a historic preservation-based downtown redevelopment program established by the
National Trust for Historic Preservation.
She also received the Georgia Historic Preservation Division’s Historic Preservation Achievement Award for her work to restore and rehabilitate Chattooga Academy, which is one of Georgia’s oldest remaining brick school buildings.
The Auburn University graduate returned to her newspaper roots in 2019 at the Messenger.
“I appreciate the confidence the Times Journal Inc. leadership has shown in me and my abilities, and I am excited about opportunities for personal and professional growth that this new position offers me,” she said.