New Mexico paper ed/government reporter D’Ammassa departs

The following excerpt was sent out from demingheadlight.com:

The Deming Headlight, in its second year under new ownership, will carry on after saying goodbye this month to editor and government reporter Algernon D’Ammassa.

In November of last year, the Headlight was purchased from the Gannett Co., the largest newspaper chain in the U.S., by Nickolas Seibel, publisher of the Silver City Daily Press. The paper has continued to publish twice weekly in a new tabloid format with a staff of three reporters.

D’Ammassa served as editor for one year, during which the paper and each of its reporters earned awards from the New Mexico Press Association — seven in total, awarded at the NMPA’s annual banquet last month, including first place in general excellence for weeklies of comparable size.

D’Ammassa, who has lived in Deming for 15 years, will begin a new chapter in December as managing editor of the weekly Las Cruces Bulletin.

He got his start in journalism at the Headlight in 2017, as a middle-age career switch. Previously, he had been a professional stage actor for two decades and an educator. He moved to Deming with his family in 2008 and soon began writing monthly freelance opinion columns for the Headlight. He took over the paper’s weekly “Desert Sage” column from writer Win Mott in 2014.

In 2017, D’Ammassa was hired on as a general assignment reporter for a year before transferring to the Las Cruces Sun-News, when Gannett owned both papers. After working on the education and business beats, D’Ammassa was assigned to statewide coverage and investigative reporting.

After Seibel’s Silver City Independent Publishing Co. purchased the Headlight from Gannett, D’Ammassa returned to the Headlight as editor and government reporter.