The arrival of American Publishing (the U. S. subsidiary of Hollinger) official David Radler in Carthage in the 1990s, marked the end of small-town journalism as we knew it.
Radler was there with members of the Cope family of the Neosho Daily News (and American Publishing) to let us know that things would be better now that The Press was with American and no longer a member of the Thomson chain.
It was not long before the cuts came, cuts which I have written about before in this blog, the successful Carthage Press business, including a printing press that published nearly every high school newspaper in the area, the Webb City Sentinel, Webb City's Wise Buyer and other publications, was gone...sold for scrap metal...and the business was shipped to Neosho (where then-Daily publisher Valerie Praytor lost nearly all of it."
After that, it was the inserters, the composing room, and eventually, control of the advertising as American morphed into Liberty Group Publishing, and later into GateHouse Media.
The Press operation was moved from a historic building near the downtown square to a sterile building on Central Avenue, and circulation has fallen nearly 3,000 (out of 5,000) in the past decade.
With all of that in mind, you can't blame me for enjoying it when a little hardship falls on the two leaders of Hollinger International from that era, Conrad Black and David Radler.
Today's Chicago Sun-Times features an article on how Radler feels Donald Trump has gypped him out of a $1.7 million condo:
Radler claims he was one of the "friends and family" group who got first crack at purchasing condos at a discount in the Trump building. Radler had spearheaded a joint-venture deal in which Trump could build his 92-story hotel and condo building on the site of the former Sun-Times building at 401 N. Wabash Ave. The Sun-Times has moved to 350 N. Orleans.
When Trump first planned the luxury condo and hotel in 2003, he gave about 40 insiders a discount on their purchase of condos. The buyers received a 10 percent discount and had to put down a 5 percent deposit vs. 15 percent required from others outside the circle, according to published reports.
But last summer, Trump notified the "friends and family" group that their deals had been canceled -- and that they would have to buy the properties at closer to the market rate.
Radler -- who was sentenced to 29 months in prison and a $250,000 fine for his role in stealing millions from Sun-Times' parent company Hollinger International-- is asking a judge to uphold his purchase contract under the "friends and family" deal. Radler bought a condo and two parking spaces for $1.7 million.
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