New publisher takes newspapers' helm

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

— John Dilmore, who has worked as publisher of The Gentry Courier-Journal for the past two years, has accepted a job as publisher of the Alpine Avalanche, in Alpine, Texas. His last day as publisher will be Friday.

Dilmore started as publisher on June 1, 2008, succeeding longtime publisher Shelly Moran. He was opinion page editor of The Benton County DailyRecord in Bentonville before that.

“Living and working in Siloam Springs has been a really positive experience,” Dilmore said. “The people here have been good to me and (my wife) Jennifer. I’m proud of the work the paper has done over the past couple of years. It’s a credit to the excellent staff here.”

Kent Marts, who edited The Benton County Daily Record for 15 years until November, when he became editor of the weekly newspapers owned by Northwest Arkansas Newspapers LLC, replaces Dilmore and takes on the additional role of general manager of the weeklies.

Of Marts’ appointmentas publisher, “It feels a little odd to recommend Kent - he was my boss for four years at The Daily Record, so it seemslike it should be the other way around. But the paper couldn’t be in better hands.”

Marts has worked in Benton County since 1986. He grew up in Springdale, where he started working for newspapers at age 13.

“I’m excited about my expanded role in the company and the chance I have to continue to provide great newspapers in western Benton County,” Marts said.

“Over that past dozen years, Shelly, then John, maintained great newspapers. I am stepping into a position that is blessed to have a great staff that’s focused on producing newspapers that serve the communities.”

Marts and his wife, Natalie (a kindergarten teacher), have four children: Jeff, 21, a student at Northwest Arkansas Community College; Sarah 19, also a student at NWACC; Laura, 15, a freshman at Bentonville High School; and David, 8, a second grader in Bentonville.

Marts plans to relocate to the Siloam Springs area.

“While I may be not have lived in western Benton County, the areais very familiar to me not only because I’ve been at The Daily Record for nearly 25 years, but because this is where my mother grew up,” Marts said.

His grandmother was the late Margie Guthary Snyder, who taught school in Gentry for decades; his mother, Patricia Guthary Marts, graduated from Gentry schools.

I’ve been working closely with the staffs in western Benton County for more than two decades,” Marts said. “I now look forward to an even closer association with the staffs here.”

News, Pages 1 on 05/19/2010