Archer County News is now a subsidiary of L & D Haile Properties
On January second of this year Barbara and I were on our way to retirement after the sale of the paper. We had just published our last edition with farewell messages. The proceeds of the sale allowed us to settle some obligations and since we had no intentions of competing with the new owner, we signed a Non-Compete Agreement. The new operating company Archer County News LLC abruptly closed the doors to the weekly community paper after only four issues. Given those facts the only two options we had were to pray for a buyer to keep the weekly paper alive or settle for the loss of the Archer County News. The closure would mean a sad heartbreaking day for the entire Archer County community.
A call from Dan Haile turned out to be an answer to prayer. He and his brother Luke agreed to purchase both the stock in Archer County Publishing, Inc, a shell corporation at that point, and Archer County News LLC. They also agreed to purchase the building housing the paper. A closing February 13 made L&D Haile Properties the owner of the Archer County News lock, stock, and barrel.
When Luke became aware of the eminent closure he responded, “It’s not going to happen, call Jerry to find out what we need to do to save this deal.” They probably said with an expletive or two “It ain’t gonna’ happen,” but since Barbara had both Luke and Dan as English students in the 90’s at Archer City High School the quote was revised to more proper grammatical standards. She agreed to come back to work at the paper saying, “If it were anyone else but Dan and Luke, I would still be retired.” Barbara and I have agreed to stay on until a suitable Publisher and Editor can be found and the search is underway.
Dan Haile, now the President of Archer County Publishing Company, Inc said, “The motivations for my brother Luke and I in getting involved in the Archer County News is all about the youth and citizens of Archer County. A strong well-run community paper is the kind of glue that holds people together and we are excited to have Jerry and Barbara Phillips, the previous owners on board to help us get things going.”