Local & State Headlines

Worth paper bought

• A Vidalia company is buying Worth County's weekly newspaper.

Susan McCord

SYLVESTER — The Sylvester Local News, a weekly newspaper and Worth County's legal organ, is changing hands, though its new owner says readers won't notice much of a change.

"We've been managing it for a year-and-a-half now and working on a deal for a little over a year," Daniel Ford, of Ford Publishing Inc., said. "We finally met in the middle and closed the deal."

Ford, William Ledford Sr. and Rose Ledford comprise Ford Publishing, the Vidalia firm that is buying the newspaper from its current owner, Leigh Ford. With their son, William Ledford Jr., the Ledfords own Vidalia's newspaper, The Advance.

Daniel Ford said the new owners will maintain a behind-the-scenes role in the newspaper's operations, cleaning up a few design details wile leaving Leigh Ford, who is no relation, in charge.

Leigh Ford's LHF Inc. purchased The Sylvester Local News in 1999 from long-time publisher Marian Sumner. Sumner joined the newspaper in 1948, became its partial owner in 1952 and was later its sole owner until her death in 1999.

Leigh Ford declined to comment on the newspaper's sale Monday.

Staff writer Joshua Brown contributed to this report.

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