OZONA STOCKMAN. The Ozona Stockman was founded in 1892 as the Ozona Kicker by Claude B. Hudspeth,^qv who later served in the United States Congress from this district. Hudspeth sold the newspaper to the Metcalf brothers in 1895, and they sold it to Clemmie Dodson on September 10, 1903. For a brief time the paper was called the Courier. Miss Dodson sold it to a publisher from Menard named Hunt, who sold it to Christian Myers of Ozona. Myers sold it to E. L. Burchett. The next owners were G. L. Bunger and Judge Charles E. Davidson.^qv Davidson later bought out Bunger's interest, and Smith Jones became editor in chief. In 1914 the paper's name was changed to the Ozona Stockman. At the time it was largely a trade publication for the ranching industry. W. C. Easterling bought the Ozona Stockman from Judge Davidson and operated it until February 23, 1923, when he sold it to R. J. Cooke. Cooke turned the editing chore over to his son-in-law, John H. Sawyer. On September 15, 1926, W. Evart White bought the Stockman from Cooke and owned and published it for the next forty-six years. Kitty Montgomery purchased the Stockman from White in July 1972. She had previously served as editor of the newspaper for several years. Mrs. Montgomery sold the Stockman to John S. (Scotty) Moore of Ozona, owner of a competing paper, the Crockett County News, in April 1987. Moore continued to publish the paper, assisted by his wife, Linda, and two employees in 1994, when it was published weekly, on Wednesdays, and had a circulation of 1,800.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Crockett County Historical Society, History of Crockett County (San Angelo: Anchor, 1976).

Linda Moore