Acquisitions
J. Louis Mullen has purchased the Emmons County Record in Linton, N.D. and the Prairie Pioneer in Pollock, S.D. from Allan and Leah Burke. The Burkes purchased the Pioneer in 1987 and the Record in 1993. Grimes, Mcgovern & Associates represented the Burkes in the sale. Mullen owns weekly newspapers in North Dakota, South Dakota, Michigan, Oregon and Washington. The Pioneer and the Record are now under Mobridge Publishing, joining the Mobridge Tribune in Mobridge, S.D., the Potter County News in Gettysburg,
S.D. and the West River Eagle in Eagle Butte, S.D.
Paxton Media Group has acquired the Jasper (Ind.) Herald. from the Rumbach family. The newspaper traces its roots to 1895. A member of the family has managed the Herald since 1919 when A.T. Rumbach came to the paper as its editor and manager. His sons, John T. “Jack” Rumbach and Edwin J. Rumbach followed him, who were then followed by their sons, Dan Rumbach and John Rumbach. John’s son, Justin Rumbach, was the Herald’s most recent publisher. The Paxton Media Group, a family-owned media company headquartered in Paducah, Ky., publishes more than 70 newspapers across the Midwest and Southwest, including 12 dailies in Indiana. Dirks, Van Essen, Murray & April represented the Rumbach family in the transaction. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Alonovus Corp. of Millersburg, Ohio has purchased the Hartville (Ohio) News from
The Knowles Press. The Knowles Press is owned by sisters Rosalee “Rouge” Haines, Jacquelin “Jackie” Vaughn and Lindalee “Linny” Sourini, who purchased the business from their father, Alton Knowles, in 1981. He founded The Knowles Press printing business in 1925. Alonovus Corp. serves the region with a network of weekly and monthly newspapers in 11 counties of Ohio. The total distribution of the combined publications approaches 400,000. The firm was founded by Abe and Fran Mast in the early 1970s and is now owned and operated by their sons.
The Donnelly family has sold the Indiana (Pa.) Gazette to Sample News Group, based in Corry, Erie County. Terms of the transaction not disclosed. Sample News Group, whose CEO is George “Scoop” Sample, owns more than 75 publications in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire. The sale of the Gazette does not affect operations at Gazette Printers, which will continue under the ownership of Indiana Printing & Publishing. Randy Cope of Cribb, Greene & Cope represented the Donnelly family in their sale to Sample News Group.