Womack Publishing buys News-Progress in Chase City

Posting on behalf of Charles Womack:

By TIM DAVIS/Womack Publishing Company Editorial Director

Womack Publishing Company, which completed its purchase of the The News-Progress in Chase City on Dec. 1, said the newspaper will continue to provide the local community news residents of western Mecklenburg County have come to expect over the past century.

"People want a paper that will give them in-depth local coverage, and I am excited that we will be able to do just that," said Womack Publishing president Diane White. Based in Chatham, Womack Publishing Company is a family-owned company that publishes 15 community newspapers in Virginia and North Carolina.

Womack Newspapers, Inc., owned by Charles Womack III, publishes additional papers including the Jamestown News, the Outer Banks Sentinel, the Adams Farm Gazette and YES! Weekly.

Womack also publishes telephone directories, monthly magazines, visitors' guides and a number of other publications.

The News-Progress will join Womack Publishing's other newspapers in the region, including the South Hill Enterprise, Warren Record in Warrenton, NC, Brunswick Times-Gazette in Lawrenceville, Independent Messenger in Emporia, and Lake Gaston Gazette Observer in Littleton, NC.

Dallas Weston will continue as editor of The News-Progress. Other employees include sports editor Bob Howerton, office manager Susan Joines, page designer Pamela Moore, and account executive Teresa Elliott.

The News-Progress will work in conjunction with its sister publication, The South Hill Enterprise, to provide comprehensive coverage of Mecklenburg County.

"We will be sharing our coverage of countywide stories between the two papers," said Enterprise editor and general manager Nicholas Elmes. "That will free up staff to do more local reporting on each side of the county."

The Enterprise will focus even more on eastern Mecklenburg County, while the News-Progress will offer complete coverage of Chase City, Clarksville and western Mecklenburg County.

"By working together we will be able to have an even greater presence in each of our local communities," Elmes said. "Our writers will have more time to focus on local features and in-depth reporting and we will have more space to feature true community news."

The News-Progress began as The Chase City Clipper in 1884 and was published by Clipper Publishing House.

The News-Progress was owned by the late Keith Shelton, who purchased the newspaper in 1970 with Doug Loftis and formed Mecklenburg News Inc.