After four decades, Hood ready for next chapter by Sunny Meriwether - posted Thursday, December 27th, 2012 @ 12:00 pm  E-mail Story |  Print Story  A longtime West Monroe banker will retire at the end of the month. But Ouachita Independent Bank President Whitty Hood said his plans will keep him involved in the community for many years. Hood said it was "totally an accident" that he got into banking. He was born into a family with a tradition of newspaper careers. In fact, his grandfather Lee Hawkins founded The Ouachita Citizen in 1923 as The West Monroe Churchman. The name was changed the following year. His family owned the paper until it was sold to Bert Hatten in 1968. Hood worked at the paper as a high school student when his family owned it. "It was printed on a flatbed press, and on Wednesday afternoons, I printed the first section of the newspaper," Hood said. "Circulation was about 4,000, and it took two or three hours to print 4,000 copies of the paper because it went through the press one page at a time." ..... For the full story, subscribe to the The Ouachita Citizen's NEW E-Edition!