[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Pages 12597-12598]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



            SESQUICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE MACON BEACON

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, today, I want to pay tribute to The Macon 
Beacon, a newspaper in Macon, MS, on the occasion of its 
sesquicentennial celebration.
  This is a special event for Mississippi and for the city of Macon. 
Media exists to report what actually happens locally, nationally and 
globally. For 150 years, the Beacon has been reporting facts relevant 
to the lives of Noxubee County residents. The Beacon reached the 
Sesquicentennial milestone because it is a reliable source of 
information for its community.
  I want to tell my colleagues a brief history of this historic yet 
vibrant newspaper. The Macon Beacon paper was founded in July 1849, for 
the people of Noxubee County, Mississippi. The county was established 
only 16 years before in 1833. The Beacon is the third oldest newspaper 
in Mississippi. It even has the distinction of being Noxubee County's 
oldest continuous business. This demonstrates the Macon Beacon's 
continued importance to the people of Noxubee County.
  E.W. and Henry C. Ferris founded The Macon Beacon in 1849 and it 
remained in the Ferris family for the next 123 years. Its editorship 
passed down through the Ferris family from Henry to his son, Phillip, 
and then to his son Douglas. Douglas recruited a cousin, Brooke Ferris, 
to continue the family's leadership in the business. This is an amazing 
and honorable family legacy.
  In 1972, upon Mr. Brooke Ferris's retirement, Mr. Jim Robbins 
purchased The Macon Beacon. The Robbins family

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of Macon, Mississippi, continued to publish the newspaper until 1993. 
Then Mr. Scott Boyd bought it and he continues to publish The Macon 
Beacon today.
  The First Amendment to the Constitution indicates the importance of a 
free and vigilant press to our democratic republic. The Macon Beacon 
has lived up to these expectations by faithfully reporting community 
events for 150 years. The Macon Beacon has survived and flourished 
through three major wars, including the War Between the States, and the 
Great Depression. Each edition of The Beacon is eagerly awaited by the 
newspaper's 3,100 subscribers, more than a fourth of the county's 
population.
  In the words of its founding editor, Mr. Henry C. Ferris, The Macon 
Beacon is ``a semi-public institution dedicated to the service of the 
people.'' I want to congratulate The Macon Beacon on the celebration of 
150 years of dedicated service to Noxubee County.

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