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Michael O'Hearn, former editor of the Crossroads Chronicle in Cashiers, N.C., has joined The Toccoa Record as its editor. His first day was Monday, March 11.
Michael O’Hearn has been named editor and publisher of The Toccoa Record.
He succeeds long-time The Record editor and publisher Tom Law who is retiring after a 47-year career in community journalism.
The announcement was made this week by Alan NeSmith, northeast Georgia regional publisher and chairman of Community Newspapers Inc. (CNI), the parent company of The Toccoa Record.
"Michael has a passion for community journalism and I am excited to watch him plug into Stephens County and lead the local newspaper," NeSmith said. "Tom law had been a pillar of CNI for decades and we appreciate all he has done in helping us fulfill our mission through the years. As Tom passes the torch to Michael, he is alsp providing him a wealth of institutional knowledge about the community. It truly is an exciting day for Tom, Michael, and Stephens County."
O’Hearn comes to The Record after serving three years as editor of the Crossroads Chronicle, CNI’s weekly newspaper published in Cashiers, N.C.
He has also worked for the Times-Georgian, a daily newspaper in Carrollton, for three years.
O’Hearn is native of Kansas, but graduated from Polk County High School in Columbus, N.C. in 2011. He graduated from the University of North Carolina-Asheville in 2015 with a degree in mass communication.
“I look forward to being able to meet with everyone in the community and get accustomed to what’s going on in and around Toccoa,” O’Hearn said. “I’ve lived and breathed local journalism since I started at The Blue Banner in 2013 and will continue that journey here.”
Law started his newspaper career at The Clayton Tribune – his hometown paper – as a sports reporter in 1977. After graduating from the University of Georgia with a journalism degree, he joined the staff of The Toccoa Record in 1980 covering sports, law enforcement and courts.
He was later named news editor of The Record, a position he held when the newspaper was purchased by CNI in late 1995. He was named managing editor of the combined Chieftain and Toccoa Record for six months before he was named editor of The Clayton Tribune.
After four years at the Clayton paper, Law returned to The Record in 2001 as editor and publisher, a position he held for the next 23 years.
From 1996 to the present, Law and the reporters he supervised, received more than 100 better newspaper awards from the Georgia Press Association and CNI in categories such as layout and design, best sports pages, best opinion pages, best Page One, local news and photography.
“It has been very rewarding to have been a part of community journalism for the past 47 years,” Law said. “I’ve met and written about a lot of good people in Stephens and Rabun counties and I hope my work has kept people informed of what’s happening in their communities, entertained for a little while, and maybe once or twice effected the future of a project, program or individual.
“I know this much – the last 47 years have flown by in what seems like a single heartbeat,” he said.
While he’s retiring from the newspaper business, Law said he’s hopefully not retiring from writing.
“I want to stay busy,” he said. “I’ll have a part-time job, for sure. And, for the last several years, I’ve had at least two book ideas rummaging around in my head. I want to give myself a chance to fully develop these ideas and perhaps turn them into written words on pages. They may or may not turn into published books, but I owe it to myself to give these ideas some time and thought.
“I am confident Michael and his staff will continue to publish a first rate weekly newspaper here in Toccoa,” he said.