Elderly editor is still 'kicking'

By: Joe Strupp James Haught of the Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette might be among the oldest editorial page editors in U.S. newspapering at 75. But that hasn't stopped him from being among the most vocal, particularly against the Iraq war. Haught, who has worked in the same newsroom for nearly 55 years ? since signing on as a young reporter during the Eisenhower administration ? has made the anti-war stance of the paper his top issue.

"I have written at least one editorial or column a week against it," says Haught, who has held the title of editor since 1992, but now serves primarily on the editorial page. "It was so unnecessary and there was no point to the war, and most Americans still don't know why we invaded. Every pretext the White House has put forth has been proven untrue."

Staffers kidded Haught on a recent birthday about his longevity by giving him a mock photo that depicts the veteran editor taking notes at an Abraham Lincoln staff meeting. But most agree his experience has aided his time as an editor. "I just love it, I get a daily thrill out of coming in each day, and keeping up with everything, and nailing Bush in the butt every day," he says, adding, "I like the excitement of it."

Haught, married to a former Gazette society writer and the father of four, was one of the first to publish an anti-war editorial on Aug. 16, 2002, some seven months before the invasion. That piece states, in part, "If other U.N. countries don't think the problem is bad enough to require warfare, it raises suspicion that Bush is just trying to wage a family vendetta against his father's old foe." The paper now runs a daily box on Page One tallying the number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq, and around the world, since the war began.

The anti-war stance is just part of the paper's mostly liberal editorial voice, which Haught claims creates some friction with the mostly religious and conservative circulation area. "This state voted for Bush twice and this is the Appalachian bible belt," he acknowledges. "The Gazette is a little bit at odds with the Red State evangelists, but they don't object too violently."

Publisher Betty Chilton, whose family has owned or co-owned the paper for more than 50 years, says Haught is so versed in the paper's political and editorial viewpoint on most subjects, she rarely has to direct him: "He doesn't have to check what he writes. We confer and chat, but he knows the positions of the paper ? socially liberal, fiscally conservative."

Haught first got into the newspaper business as a delivery boy, then became an apprentice printer at the Charleston Daily Mail in 1951. He joined the Gazette in 1953 as a reporter, eventually working his way up to police reporter, religion columnist, feature writer, and night city editor. From 1970 to 1983, he was an award-winning investigative reporter, breaking stories on police corruption and consumer fraud. Among the major stories was the political demise of West Virginia Gov. Arch A. Moore Jr., who was forced from office after pleading guilty to bribery and extortion charges. One of the stories Haught broke was that the IRS was investigating Moore, a scoop he received via a leaked IRS report. He was made associate editor in 1983, and named top editor in 1992.

Now, he says, "I'd like to go to 80 or beyond. As long as my mind stays sharp."