CONCORD PUBLISHING MAKES ACQUISITION

Concord Publishing House Inc. of Cape Girardeau has added the Missourian-News, a weekly newspaper in New Madrid County, to its family of newspapers.

Erwin and Jean Lloyd, previous owners of the Portageville-based publication, announced the sale Thursday.

"This is a trend of the times," said Lloyd. "There was a time when newspapers continued in the same family from generation to generation, and that's fine until the generations run out."

The ownership has changed but the business will continue with the same faces, said Lloyd. The Lloyds will continue to manage the newspaper, and Arzine French, who has been with the paper 35 years, will remain with the operation.

"We wanted this part of New Madrid County to be assured of having its own community newspaper for many years to come," added Lloyd. "The new owners are community-oriented. They are regionally based, rather than being coast-to-coast."

Concord Publishing House is part of Rust Communications, the largest outstate newspaper publishing company in Missouri which includes five daily newspapers and 12 weeklies in Missouri, Arkansas and Tennessee.

The Southeast Missourian is the company's flagship newspaper. Concord Printing Services in Cape Girardeau is an affiliate.

The newspaper will be printed at the Concord Publishing House-owned Daily Dunklin Democrat newspaper in Kennett.

The Missourian-News building at Portageville will be remodeled, said Lloyd.

Among the welcome changes anticipated by the Lloyds are various support systems unavailable in the past.

"It's good to have a helping hand other than the one at the end of your arm," Lloyd said. "I, personally, am happy to be a part of the new team, and am looking forward to the future role of the Missourian-News in this community," he added.

The Missourian-News began with a weekly newspaper named the Southeast Missourian in New Madrid in 1895. The newspaper, owned by the Ed Wright family, moved to Portageville in 1912. The Wright family operated the newspaper until 1944, when Ralph Hawkins purchased the newspaper and renamed it Portageville Missourian. The Hawkins family operated the newspaper until 1991, when it was purchased by the Lloyd family, which had established the Portageville Review in 1935. The 1991 purchase resulted in a merger of the two papers into the Missourian-News.

Erwin Lloyd's father, Raymond Lloyd, had founded a newspaper in the 1920s, at Lilbourn. That publication was discontinued in 1995.

Lloyd said he feels that the sale to Concord Publishing House Inc. has strengthened the position and security of the newspaper.

"I'm confident the community will be pleased with the new owners and their way of doing business," he said.

The Missourian-News is now part of the network of weekly newspapers located in Marble Hill, Malden, Caruthersville, Advance, Bloomfield, Jackson, Chaffee, Steele, Doniphan, Dyersburg, Tenn., and Osceola, Ark. Included in the newspaper group are dailies at Cape Girardeau, Dexter, Poplar Bluff, Kennett and Blytheville, Ark.