Twin City Sentinel
Encyclopedia
The Twin-City Sentinel was the name of the afternoon newspaper published in Winston-Salem, North Carolina
. The Sentinel's masthead was dropped in 1985 when operations were absorbed into its sister paper, the morning Winston-Salem Journal
.
Twin City derived from the fact that Winston and Salem began as separate cities.
One of the Sentinel's most popular columns was "Ask SAM," a forum for readers to submit questions. "Ask SAM" debuted in 1966. Bill Williams, the first "Sam," answered readers' questions for over two decades.
When the Sentinel quit publishing, the column was moved over to the Journal. David Watson took over the column when it began appearing in the Journal in 1985, and the acronym SAM, which originally stood for "Sentinel Answer Man," was changed to "Straight-Answer Man."
Watson continued writing the column until his death in March 2000. Journal editor Ronda Bumgardner picked up the column, and the acronym was changed again to "Straight-Answer Ma'am."
Deborah Sykes, a 25-year-old copy editor at The Sentinel, was raped, sodomized, and stabbed to death outside the newspaper on the morning of August 10, 1984. Darryl Hunt
was convicted of the crime, but cleared in 2004 on DNA
evidence.
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Winston-Salem is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina, with a 2010 population of 229,617. Winston-Salem is the county seat and largest city of Forsyth County and the fourth-largest city in the state. Winston-Salem is the second largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region and is home to...
. The Sentinel's masthead was dropped in 1985 when operations were absorbed into its sister paper, the morning Winston-Salem Journal
Winston-Salem Journal
The Winston-Salem Journal is a daily newspaper primarily serving the city of Winston-Salem, North Carolina and its county, Forsyth County, North Carolina. It also features coverage of Northwestern North Carolina and circulates as far west as Tennessee and north to Virginia.The paper is owned by...
.
Twin City derived from the fact that Winston and Salem began as separate cities.
One of the Sentinel's most popular columns was "Ask SAM," a forum for readers to submit questions. "Ask SAM" debuted in 1966. Bill Williams, the first "Sam," answered readers' questions for over two decades.
When the Sentinel quit publishing, the column was moved over to the Journal. David Watson took over the column when it began appearing in the Journal in 1985, and the acronym SAM, which originally stood for "Sentinel Answer Man," was changed to "Straight-Answer Man."
Watson continued writing the column until his death in March 2000. Journal editor Ronda Bumgardner picked up the column, and the acronym was changed again to "Straight-Answer Ma'am."
Deborah Sykes, a 25-year-old copy editor at The Sentinel, was raped, sodomized, and stabbed to death outside the newspaper on the morning of August 10, 1984. Darryl Hunt
Darryl Hunt
Darryl Hunt is an African American man from Winston-Salem, North Carolina who, in 1984, was wrongfully convicted of the rape and murder of a young white newspaper copy editor, Deborah Sykes, but was later exonerated by DNA evidence...
was convicted of the crime, but cleared in 2004 on DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
evidence.