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Goodloe Sutton
Howard Goodloe Sutton (January 31, 1939 – September 22, 2023) was an American newspaper editor, publisher, and owner. From 1964 to 2019, he published The Democrat-Reporter, a small weekly newspaper in Linden, Alabama. Sutton was widely celebrated in 1998 for publishing over four years a series of articles that exposed corruption in the Marengo County Sheriff's Office; he received awards and commendations and was suggested as a candidate for the Pulitzer Prize. In 2019, Sutton once again became the focus of national attention when he wrote and published an editorial suggesting the Ku Klux Klan be revived to carry out lynchings to "clean out" Washington, D.C; he already had a local reputation for other, similarly inflammatory racist, sexist, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic, and homophobic editorials.
Howard Goodloe Sutton was born in Alabama on January 31, 1939, the son of Robert E. Sutton and Lorie Chrietzburg Sutton. His father was the editor of The Democrat-Reporter newspaper and bought it in 1917.
Goodloe Sutton graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi and was editor of the school's student newspaper, Student Printz. It was there he met his future wife, Jean Rodgers; they married in 1964 and had two sons, Howard Goodloe Sutton Jr. and William Robert Sutton. Prior to taking over the family newspaper, the couple founded and owned several local newspapers in Demopolis, Camden, Thomasville, and Sumter County, Alabama. Sutton returned to his hometown and purchased The Democrat-Reporter from his father in 1964, taking over as editor and publisher. His wife soon joined him as an investigative reporter, later Managing Editor, at the paper. Jean died in 2003 after complications related to cancer, leaving Sutton feeling "like a zombie" and not knowing "what to do", for several years afterwards.
In 1998, Sutton received widespread acclaim for articles exposing corruption in the Marengo County Sheriff's Office; he always credited his wife, Jean, "with laboring over courthouse records". These articles, many written by his wife, led to guilty pleas by Sheriff Roger Davis for extortion, soliciting a bribe, and failure to pay state income taxes on the extorted money, for which he received two concurrent 27-month sentences. For the series of articles with accompanying documentation Sutton was threatened; the Sheriff, according to Sutton, "started telling anyone who would listen that my oldest son was involved in drugs, my wife was having affairs and I was drunk all the time". He received death threats and lost circulation and $50,000 per year in advertising in his newspaper; a local church official told him to "lay off the sheriff". A deputy, Wilmer "Sonny" Breckenridge, threatened to plant drugs in Sutton's home, according to Sutton. He and his wife were randomly pulled over and harassed, as was their oldest son.
Their articles led to a federal undercover investigation, which in turn led to the arrest of 68 people in a drug raid. Breckenridge, who was Marengo County's chief drug enforcement officer, was convicted of conspiracy to sell drugs and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
As a result of his reporting and editorials Sutton was awarded the Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award and the Society of Professional Journalists' Sunshine Award. He was inducted in 2007 into the University of Southern Mississippi's School of Mass Communication and Journalism Hall of Fame. In 2009, he received the Distinguished Community Journalist Award from Auburn University. Alabama representative Earl F. Hilliard read on the floor of Congress a declaration praising him, saying: "His story is a shining example of the best and the brightest which occurs in America when a single citizen has the bravery to stand alone, in the face of mounting pressure and odds, and stands up for justice and equality." He and his wife were also the subject of a People magazine article.
Two admiring readers submitted his work for the Pulitzer Prize for journalism, and he had supporting letters from other journalists. When the awards were to be announced a Fox News crew, a TV reporter, and a variety of other reporters were waiting with him, but he did not win.
Sutton had run for office in Alabama's 7th congressional district as a Democrat in 1978, losing in the primary. After the favorable publicity received in 1998, he ran in District 72 of the Alabama House of Representatives as a Republican, but lost to the incumbent in the general election. He was a registered Republican from at least the time of his most recent run for public office.
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Goodloe Sutton
Howard Goodloe Sutton (January 31, 1939 – September 22, 2023) was an American newspaper editor, publisher, and owner. From 1964 to 2019, he published The Democrat-Reporter, a small weekly newspaper in Linden, Alabama. Sutton was widely celebrated in 1998 for publishing over four years a series of articles that exposed corruption in the Marengo County Sheriff's Office; he received awards and commendations and was suggested as a candidate for the Pulitzer Prize. In 2019, Sutton once again became the focus of national attention when he wrote and published an editorial suggesting the Ku Klux Klan be revived to carry out lynchings to "clean out" Washington, D.C; he already had a local reputation for other, similarly inflammatory racist, sexist, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic, and homophobic editorials.
Howard Goodloe Sutton was born in Alabama on January 31, 1939, the son of Robert E. Sutton and Lorie Chrietzburg Sutton. His father was the editor of The Democrat-Reporter newspaper and bought it in 1917.
Goodloe Sutton graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi and was editor of the school's student newspaper, Student Printz. It was there he met his future wife, Jean Rodgers; they married in 1964 and had two sons, Howard Goodloe Sutton Jr. and William Robert Sutton. Prior to taking over the family newspaper, the couple founded and owned several local newspapers in Demopolis, Camden, Thomasville, and Sumter County, Alabama. Sutton returned to his hometown and purchased The Democrat-Reporter from his father in 1964, taking over as editor and publisher. His wife soon joined him as an investigative reporter, later Managing Editor, at the paper. Jean died in 2003 after complications related to cancer, leaving Sutton feeling "like a zombie" and not knowing "what to do", for several years afterwards.
In 1998, Sutton received widespread acclaim for articles exposing corruption in the Marengo County Sheriff's Office; he always credited his wife, Jean, "with laboring over courthouse records". These articles, many written by his wife, led to guilty pleas by Sheriff Roger Davis for extortion, soliciting a bribe, and failure to pay state income taxes on the extorted money, for which he received two concurrent 27-month sentences. For the series of articles with accompanying documentation Sutton was threatened; the Sheriff, according to Sutton, "started telling anyone who would listen that my oldest son was involved in drugs, my wife was having affairs and I was drunk all the time". He received death threats and lost circulation and $50,000 per year in advertising in his newspaper; a local church official told him to "lay off the sheriff". A deputy, Wilmer "Sonny" Breckenridge, threatened to plant drugs in Sutton's home, according to Sutton. He and his wife were randomly pulled over and harassed, as was their oldest son.
Their articles led to a federal undercover investigation, which in turn led to the arrest of 68 people in a drug raid. Breckenridge, who was Marengo County's chief drug enforcement officer, was convicted of conspiracy to sell drugs and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
As a result of his reporting and editorials Sutton was awarded the Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award and the Society of Professional Journalists' Sunshine Award. He was inducted in 2007 into the University of Southern Mississippi's School of Mass Communication and Journalism Hall of Fame. In 2009, he received the Distinguished Community Journalist Award from Auburn University. Alabama representative Earl F. Hilliard read on the floor of Congress a declaration praising him, saying: "His story is a shining example of the best and the brightest which occurs in America when a single citizen has the bravery to stand alone, in the face of mounting pressure and odds, and stands up for justice and equality." He and his wife were also the subject of a People magazine article.
Two admiring readers submitted his work for the Pulitzer Prize for journalism, and he had supporting letters from other journalists. When the awards were to be announced a Fox News crew, a TV reporter, and a variety of other reporters were waiting with him, but he did not win.
Sutton had run for office in Alabama's 7th congressional district as a Democrat in 1978, losing in the primary. After the favorable publicity received in 1998, he ran in District 72 of the Alabama House of Representatives as a Republican, but lost to the incumbent in the general election. He was a registered Republican from at least the time of his most recent run for public office.