Key McClatchy executive leaving

Lynn Dickerson, the McClatchy Co. vice president of operations whose duties include oversight of The State and six other newspapers in the Carolinas, will leave the struggling publishing organization later this month.

Dickerson will depart July 17, according to The Sacramento Business Journal. The company’s two remaining operational vice presidents – Bob Weil and Frank Whittaker – will assume her responsibilities.

Stock in McClatchy has continued to fall during the past 12 months, from nearly $6 a share a year ago to 47 cents earlier today. Papers throughout the 30-paper McClatchy chain have cut staff, employee pay and furloughed workers in an attempt to staunch the flow of red ink, to no avail.

McClatchy Chief Executive Officer Gary Pruitt says the company continues to “restructure and transition to a new business model – one that requires us to be smaller and more efficient in every area of the organization.”

In addition to The State, Dickerson oversees many of the company’s newspapers in the South. They include: The Sun News in Myrtle Beach, The Island Packet in Hilton Head, The Beaufort Gazette, The Herald in Rock Hill, The Raleigh News & Observer, The Charlotte Observer, The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, The Macon Telegraph, The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer and The Sun Herald in Biloxi, Miss.

A special thanks to the McClatch Watch blog for noting that Dickerson will be receiving a lump sum severance package of $690,000. That would be worth almost 1.4 million shares of McClatchy stock, but one suspects Dickerson won’t be so foolish as to invest in the foundering company she’s leaving.

Football condo market proves a poor bet

One of the more amazing real estate construction booms that’s taken place in Columbia over the past half decade is that which surrounds Williams Brice Stadium, home of the University of South Carolina football team.

It’s nothing short of remarkable the number of condos that have gone up in recent years around the stadium, particularly given that many of the units were sold to individuals who only planned to occupy them on game days. That’s a pretty pricey investment for something that gets just six or seven days of use annually.

Apparently, Columbia isn’t the only Southeastern football city that went on a football-related condo-building spree. For example, Auburn underwent a similar construction boom. At first, as in Columbia, condos went like hotcakes. But that’s no longer the case.

Blowfish drop the ball on history

If there’s one thing South Carolinians keep tabs on, it’s history. That’s what made the choice of uniforms used in a color guard procession at the July 4 Columbia Blowfish baseball game perplexing.

In honor of Independence Day, the Blowfish put on a variety of festivities, including a fireworks show, for its Coastal Plain League game with Ashboro Saturday evening. Prior to the game, they had a color guard march across the field. Surprisingly, the guard was wearing the uniform of Union Civil War soldiers.

Now, no matter what your thoughts on the War Between the States, to have Union re-enactors carrying flags on Independence Day seemed on odd choice.