New editorial staff of the Ville Platte Gazette has been announced by the paper as Tony Marks has assumed the duties of editor and Nancy Duplechain has assumed the role of associate editor.
“Being named editor of my home town newspaper is truly a blessing and an honor,” Marks said. “Ville Platte is where I grew up and where I hope to remain. Ville Platte and Evangeline Parish as a whole are also where I have family roots on my mother’s side. My mother is the former Kathy Bennett, the daughter of Robert and Evelie Bennett of Ville Platte. My mother’s grandparents are O.A. and Lillian Brou of Ville Platte and Hawk and Tiny Bennett of Turkey Creek.”
He continued, “I look forward to continuing the journalism excellence that readers of this paper have come to expect. Working here for the past five years has given me a solid foundation of achieving that mission.”
“I am thrilled to be a part of the Gazette team,” said Duplechain. “I grew up in Ville Platte. When I was a teenager, I couldn’t wait to leave this town. I finally got to do that, spending three and-a-half years in California. But, family circumstances drew me back home. I thought I’d be miserable coming back to my hometown, but I look at it in a new light now. I see the desire to make Ville Platte a great place to live. I see people who care about making our city better.”
“If you want to know how Ville Platte I am,” she continued, “my grandparents were W.R. and Ella Knighten. Paw Paw was the head of the welfare office in town, and Maw Maw worked for the police jury and was even presented the Key to the City. My dad, Ron, worked at the post office, and my mom, Dot, was a substitute teacher. I’m proud to say I’m from Ville Platte, and it’s good to be home, where my roots are.”
Marks is a 2000 graduate of Sacred Heart High School and a 2004 graduate of the Manship School of Mass Communication at Louisiana State University where he concentrated in political communication.
Upon graduating college, Marks started working on a full-time/temporary basis at the Evangeline Parish Clerk of Court office in 2004 under long time Clerk Walter Lee. He was promoted to deputy clerk of court in 2005 and became a minute clerk for former 13th Judicial District Court Division “A” Judge J. Larry Vidrine in 2011. He remained working at the clerk’s office once current Clerk Randy Deshotel took office in 2012.
In 2014, Marks was first hired as a stringer for The Gazette after being the Voice of the Trojans during the previous year. As sports stringer, he covered high school sporting events in the parish.
A year later, in 2015, Marks continued as minute clerk in Division “A” for newly sworn-in Judge Gary J. Ortego. Then, in 2016, he became sports editor for The Oakdale Journal. He plans on continuing in that capacity after assuming the role of editor of The Gazette.
Marks’ career path began to veer more to the newspaper business when The Gazette asked him to be part-time associate editor in March 2017 while still working at the clerk’s office. Two months later, the position of associate editor became full-time.
“Leaving the clerk’s office was bitter sweet,” Marks commented. “It meant I was beginning a new adventure, but it also meant leaving behind a part of my life for so many years. However, I took with me to The Gazette the countless relationships I have made at the courthouse over that time.”
Since working full-time at The Gazette, Marks placed third in the 2017 Louisiana Press Association Better Newspaper Competition for Best Feature Story and for Best Single Editorial; second in the 2017 Louisiana Sports Writers Association Awards for Outdoor Writing; and third in the 2018 LPA Better Newspaper Competition for Best Regular Column, the Sam Hanna Award.
Duplechain graduated from Sacred Heart of Ville Platte in 1997. She began as a DJ at KVPI while still in high school. During her on-again-off-again stint at KVPI, she has worn the hat of program director and promotions director. She also worked at KQIS/KBEB/KSIG in Crowley, where she was a DJ and news director. While living in Los Angeles, she did master control at a TV station on a studio lot.
Duplechain graduated from UL-Lafayette in 2005 with a degree in general studies, majoring in anthropology and English, minoring in history.
Duplechain is the author of a trilogy of books called The Dark Trilogy: Dark Bayou, Dark Carnival, and Dark Legacy. These novels take place in the Lafayette/Abbeville area and make their way through New Orleans and Paris. They deal with traiteurs, VooDoo, witchcraft, and general paranormal horror/fantasy. Duplechain was a featured author and panelist at the 2011 and 2016 Louisiana State Book Festival in Baton Rouge. Her books have been optioned for a TV series, and she is currently writing a young adult fantasy series.
When she is not writing, Duplechain also works as a hostess at Ardoin’s Funeral Home, and she is a museum docent at the Swamp Pop Museum.
“So far I’m happy here at The Gazette. Everyone has been so nice to me, and I’m proud to work for my hometown paper,” Duplechain expressed.
Publisher Garland Forman said, “We are excited to have Tony as editor and Nancy as associative editor for our staff. Both are well-known throughout Evangeline Parish and will be an asset to the paper with their positions. I’m confident they will continue to provide excellent news coverage for the parish each week.”
Image
Staff Report