Gadsden County News Corp. assumed control March 5

The Gadsden County Times

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 15, 2021

After more than a decade of corporate ownership, The Gadsden County Times is returning to its roots as a locally owned newspaper.

Publisher Mark Pettus announced to the staff March 5 that Florida Newspapers, LLC had sold the newspaper’s property and assets to Gadsden County News Corp., which will maintain the current offices in Quincy.  Lewis Floyd, Sr. Associate with Grimes, McGovern & Associates represented the buyer in this transaction.

Pettus, a Gadsden County resident, is president of Gadsden County News Corp. and is also publisher of The Havana Herald, The Chattahoochee News-Herald & Sneads Sentinel along with Florida NewsLine, a family of community newspapers in the Jacksonville, St. Augustine area.

“A strong local newspaper is a vital part of every community’s quality of life and the Gadsden County Times is an important civic institution to people in Quincy and throughout Gadsden County. I know that a return to local ownership will strengthen the Gadsden County Times,” Pettus said. “I have always considered the Times a great newspaper and am pleased to be able to work with the great people that have worked to make it great.”

Pettus, who was a  reporter and then editor for the Florida Times-Union and editor of The Ponte Vedra Recorder before becoming publisher of Florida NewsLine in 2015, moved to the Coon Bottom community in Gadsden County in 2017, when he purchased The Havana Herald. He and Gadsden County News Corp. Vice President Colleen Sperry participated in Leadership Gadsden in 2018-2019.

The Gadsden County Times was founded in 1901 and is celebrating its 120th birthday this year.