Sale of The Valley Times-News to Boone is finalized

The agreement for sale of operating assets and real estate of The Valley Times-News in Lanett, Ala., by Valley Newspapers, Inc. and its owner, Nell Dunn Walls, to Valley Newsmedia, LLC, a subsidiary of Boone Newspapers, Inc. (BNI) of Tuscaloosa, Ala., was finalized and effective Oct. 1. 

The office for The Valley Times-News will remain in Lanett - West Point, Ga., in its present location and its current staff based there with the exception of publisher Cy Wood, who retired in September in plans he and his family made earlier this year that do not relate to The Valley Times-News' new ownership.

BNI manages newspapers in similar sized communities in Alabama, Georgia, in which The LaGrange Daily News is a BNI affiliate, Kentucky, Louisiana, Tennessee, Texas, Michigan, Mississippi, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia.

The new publisher of The Valley Times-News is Baker Ellis, who also is publisher of the LaGrange Daily News. There are no plans to merge the two newspaper operations, but the close proximity of one to the other is a major mutual advantage.

"We are honored to succeed Nell Walls, appreciate the strong foundations she and her late husband Tom Walls put down for these newspapers," Jim Boone, chairman of BNI, said.  "My family and I will see that our obligations are fulfilled to these communities and the Walls Family."