Council Grove Republican sale announced

The sale of the Council Grove Republican, published continuously the past 145 years since the first issue on Aug. 24, 1872, has been announced by Craig McNeal, president of Council Grove Publishing Company, Inc.  The sale to David Parker, Enid, Okla., is effective July 1.

Parker said there will be no changes at the newspaper in terms of staff, the paper design will remain the same, and the Council Grove Republican will continue to be published daily.

Julie Bergman, senior associate with W.B. Grimes & Company, represented Parker in the sale.

Council Grove was listed in the late 1900s as one of the four smallest cities in the United States, population wise, to have a daily newspaper.  Today, it is the only one of the four newspapers still being published daily.

Parker who has been in the printing and publishing industry for more than 40 years, said he has wanted to buy the Council Grove newspaper for a long time, since he first visited the Flint Hills decades ago, and that things finally came together earlier this year.

He and his wife currently live in Oklahoma, but plan to move to the Flint Hills in the near future where he wants to be an active member of the Council Grove community.

McNeal, who has been with the newspaper the past 52 years, first as a staff writer and later as owner and editor, said he will miss covering the daily happenings in the community and area, with never a day without something new developing in the news.  He plans to continue to live in Council Grove, and is looking forward to having more time to attend his three grandchildren's activities at schools in Olathe.

While the Council Grove Republican's first issue was published on Aug. 24, 1872, the McNeal family has been involved in the daily operation the past 82 years.