Sterling Bulletin sold to Main Street Media

The Sterling Bulletin weekly newspaper in Sterling has been sold by Marshall Publishing, Inc. to Main Street Media, headquartered in Russell. Negotiations were completed on Aug. 1 and the sale was finalized on Aug. 3.

 

Former publisher Ben Marshall has agreed to stay at the newspaper until Dec. 31 to help with the transition to a new general manager. No other changes in personnel are anticipated. Kitler and Marmalade, the newspaper's office cats, are included in the sale.

 

The Bulletin, established in 1876, is the oldest business in Rice County and currently serves as the county's official newspaper.

 

Marshall and two partners bought the newspaper in 1997. He subsequently bought out his partners in 2007, five years after a fire destroyed the newspaper's office in downtown Sterling.

 

The newspaper purchased new equipment, temporarily relocated to the basement of a subscriber's home and didn't miss an issue. "We were truly an 'underground newspaper' for six weeks," Marshall joked at the time.

 

The week following the fire, townspeople dressed as "newsies," distributed free copies of the newspaper in the business district because subscription records had been destroyed in the fire.

 

"We have been blessed with outstanding support from our community over the past 20 years and know that our advertisers and readers will continue patronage of the new owners of the Bulletin," Marshall said.