The Hawkins Family Sells Newspaper Assets

By: E&P Staff The Hawkins family announced the sale of the twice-weekly Lewisburg Tribune and Marshall Gazette to Rust Publishing Central TN, publishers of the nearby daily Shelbyville (Tenn.) Times-Gazette. Hugh Jones, publisher and part owner of the Shelbyville daily, will be involved in the same capacity with the acquired operation.

Terms of the deal, brokered by Dirks, Van Essen & Murray, were not disclosed.

The 5,000-circulation Tribune-Gazette has been in continuous ownership by the Hawkins Family in Lewisburg since 1898. The newspapers, along with the 15,000-circulation Marshall County Shopper, will continue to be family owned after the sale to Rust.

"It was a difficult decision to sell these newspapers," Tommy Hawkins said in a statement, "but the focus of our company has moved toward commercial printing and we did not feel we could give the hometown newspapers the attention they deserve. Hugh Jones will do an excellent job-just as he has since taking over the Shelbyville newspapers. We wanted to choose a company that we knew would take care of our employees while growing the newspapers."

Rex Rust, co-president of Rust Communications, said in a statement that he "considers it a compliment that the Hawkins family trusted us to maintain the legacy of the newspapers. I think it helped that they have known Hugh and worked with him for a long time when he was involved in the printing industry. They have also seen the job he has been doing in Shelbyville. Lewisburg and Shelbyville are excellent newspaper markets, and we promise to serve the needs of our readers and advertisers."


Rust Publishing is a subsidiary of a family-owned newspaper company, Rust Communications.