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Neighboring communities in Dallas County are reeling from the loss of a man who, through his work as a journalist, impacted lives in a way that was seldom recognized, but will be remembered for generations through the media coverage preserved by the Advocate’s sister publication, The Selma Times-Journal.

Small towns are greatly affected by the citizens who labor to make their communities a better place. In Butler County, minister Charles Box, Judge Nicki McFerrin, City Councilman Jessie McWilliams and countless others come to mind. Over in Lowndes County, names like Judge Adrian Johnson, Hayneville Mayor Jimmie Davis and Imago Dei pastor Davey Lyon evoke images of servant leaders as do those of Crenshaw County Commissioner Charles Sankey, Rev. Dunford Cole and Luverne Police Department Captain Mason Adcock in Crenshaw County.

But the name of a media member is not the highlight of community coverage until one considers the gaping hole left behind when they die.

James Jones, managing editor of The Selma Times Journal died on Sept. 12 after a month-long battle with complications related to a couple of recent strokes. He was 54, and some might say in the prime of his professional career as an editor, journalist and screenplay author.

Jones had a passion for sports and loved nothing more than attending local football games or sitting in the press box for University of Alabama matchups. He would have filled the newspaper with sports stories given the chance, but covered other Selma and Dallas County happenings with the same enthusiasm and commitment to excellence with which he highlighted athletic programs across the area.

After his death announcement, readers flooded social media with comments about his life’s impact on their own. Describing him as a man with a big heart, witty sense of humor and passion for accurate community coverage, community members, peers and journalists from competing publications from Jones’s time in Biloxi, Mississippi all lauded his contribution to preserving the stories of what he affectionately called, “the every man”  — regular people just living a life of purpose to better their town.

May we all live a life of purpose and a legacy like his — illuminating and contributing to what’s good and pointing out what could be better while working to be the change that’s needed..