One of the biggest problems facing Liberty Group Publishing since its formation in 1998 has been its high rate of indebtedness.
The company, which owns The Neosho Daily News, The Carthage Press, The Neosho Post, and The Big Nickel, as well as more than 300 other publications in the United States, has made an arrangement that will put it further in debt...by approximately $330 million.
A confidential letter sent earlier this month from Wells Fargo Bank officials to Ken Serota, Liberty CEO, confirmed a deal through which Wells Fargo will make available $330 million to Liberty to "refinance existing indebtedness of (Liberty Group Operating) and Liberty Group Publishing, Inc."
Not only was the money needed to refinance the debt, according to the letter, but also to retire preferred stock, make fee and expense payments, and "provide for its ongoing working capital and letter of credit needs."
The letter says Well Fargo proposed to give a $50 million senior secured revolving credit facility and a $280 million senior secured term loan. The banking institution will try to come up with a syndicate of lenders for the $280 million, the letter said.
The funding will be pulled if the company takes a downturn, the letter said. The deal will go down as of Feb. 28, if all conditions are met.
One condition is that Liberty officials will be the beck and call of Wells Fargo, ready to drop everything to make presentations to potential lenders or to participate in conference calls, the letter said.
A large amount of money has gone into paying off Liberty's debt each year in the seven years since the company was formed out of the smaller newspapers in Hollinger International. Documents filed with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission indicate Liberty paid $40.7 million in interest expense in 2001 and $35.5 million in 2002. During those two years, Liberty was in the red more than $22 million, the SEC documents said. The company has been highly leveraged since its formation and appears to be destined to continue along that path.
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Things haven't been any easier for Hollinger International, former owners of The Daily and The Press.
A company SEC filing indicated indicated that former CEO Conrad Black's alleged looting of the company cost it more than $57 million in legal fees
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A March 2006 jury trial is expected in the lawsuit filed by former Southwest City Police Chief Ron Beaudry against that city's mayor and city council. According to documents filed today with the U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, the two sides met Jan. 6 and arranged a tentative schedule for proceedings.
All discovery should be completed by Aug. 26 with the deadline for filing of discovery motions set for Aug. 12.
A three-day trial is expected, according to the court documents.
Beaudry claims that current chief Toi Canada was convicted of a "driving-related alcohol offense" on July 21, 1994, in Webb City, and on July 13, 2001, in Callaway County.
Named as defendants in the lawsuit are the city of Southwest City, Mayor Al Dixon, and council members Farley Martin and Mildred Weaver. Beaudry noted in his petition that Ms. Canada is Martin's stepdaughter. Beaudry was hired as police chief in June 2003, according to the petition. Ms. Canada was hired on a part-time basis last November.She was promoted to full-time status after a closed council meeting in March 2004, the petition says. At that point, Beaudry conducted a background check and uncovered the alcohol-related offenses, he said. "On March 12, 2004," the petition says, "(Beaudry) received a fax from Angela Heckart, a representative with Beimdiek Insurance Agency, regarding the insurability of Ms. Canada." Ms. Heckart said Ms. Canada could not be insured because she had an alcohol-related driving offense in the three years before she was hired.On March 30, the city received a fax saying that Ms. Canada was prohibited from using any city vehicle. At that point, Beaudry fired her. "On or about April 13, 2004," the petition said, "the city council refused to fire Canada, rehired her, and allowed her to operate her own vehicle to conduct police business."
On May 14, the council suspended Beaudry after he went public about his concerns about Ms. Canada, the petition said. On June 2, he was fired.
In the petition, Beaudry claims his First Amendment free speech rights were violated by the city officials. He is asking to be reinstated as police chief, to have all references to his suspension and firing removed from city files, and for damages and punitive damages.
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The door has officially closed on former Webb City High School student Brad Mathewson's civil rights lawsuit against the R-7 School District and Principal Stephen Gollhofer. Judge Ortrie D. Smith issued the dismissal order today. The case was dismissed without prejudice leaving the door slightly open for refiling at a later date.
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Former Springfield News-Leader investigative reporter Ron Davis' blog site, Chatter at http://homepage.mac.com/rondavis/iblog/index.html features a scathing critique of the first day of the newly-minted KSFX-TV, formerly KDEB, the Fox station in Springfield. Davis points out that the station's owner, Nexstar, which also owns KSNF and is the de facto owner of KODE, has promoted a young woman named Rachel Aram with little previous experience to its lead anchor position. "Aram has been on the air for three months total and she has NEVER anchored a newscast," One of Davis' readers wrote, "This was also upsetting to certain other female employees at KOLR (Mission Broadcasting's tag-team partner with Nexstar in Springfield) who have much more experience and tried for the job."
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Speaking of Nexstar, an article scheduled to run tomorrow morning in the Television Business Review E-Paper, will feature more inflammatory quotes from the company's COO Duane Lammers.
Lammers, who has certainly earned a reputation for speaking his mind during Nexstar's battles with Cox and Cable One, told the magazine he never expected to win any popularity contests with the public by taking the stance that his stations will not be on the cable systems unless they pay Nexstar.