H. Kenneth (Ken) Douthit, president of Douthit Communications, Inc., Sandusky, has been elected president of The Ohio Newspaper Association. The election took place at the Feb. 13 board of trustees meeting held during the ONA convention at the Columbus Hilton. Douthit succeeds Doug Franklin, president and CEO of Cox Ohio Publishing, Dayton, who was elected chairman of the board.

Elected as vice president of ONA and president of The Ohio Newspapers Foundation was Richard (Dick) Morris, vice president & general manager of the Bowling Green Sentinel Tribune. David Dix, publisher of the Kent/Ravenna Record Courier, was elected treasurer. All are two-year terms ending in February 2010. Frank Deaner continues as executive director and secretary to the board.

At the ONA Annual Meeting held Feb. 15, Dan Behrens, publisher of the Marysville Journal Tribune, and Kim Ross-Polito, editor & publisher of the Crestline Advocate, were elected to ONA’s board of trustees. Behrens will serve a three-year term representing daily newspapers under 20,000 circulation. He succeeds Tom Smith, publisher of the Bellevue Gazette, who has retired from the board.

Ross-Polito will serve a three-year term representing weekly newspapers. She succeeds Murray Cohen, president of Delphos Herald, Inc., who has also retired from the board.

Re-elected to the board for three-year terms ending in February 2011 were Del Varney, vice president of operations for the Columbus Dispatch, and Joe Zerbey, vice president & general manager, The Blade (Toledo), representing daily newspapers over 100,000 circulation; Doug Phares, publisher of the Sandusky Register, representing daily newspapers of 20,000 to 100,000 circulation; and Cheryl Vespoint, publisher of the Barberton Herald, representing weekly newspapers.

Posted: 02|22|08 at 3:23 pm. Filed under: Announcement.