Rapp

Rapp

News.

is sold

The Rappahannock News has been sold by its longtime owners to a group of local investors headed by Walter Nicklin, editor and publisher of the quarterly Piedmont Virginian magazine based in Warrenton.

The announcement was made by Nicklin and Times Community News, the Loudoun-based media company whose founder, Arthur W. “Nick" Arundel, bought the then-century-old Rappahannock News in 1977 from a group headed by former U.S. Sen. John Warner.

“It is not only an honor but also a truly exciting opportunity to take up the reins of the Rappahannock News," said Nicklin. of Amissville, who will serve as editor and publisher of the weekly paper. “We’welcome suggestions from loyal readers and advertisers on how to make the paper ever better.”

Though he said he could not yet name them, Nicklin said Monday that the group includes “a representative mix of newcomers and old-time residents” of Rappahannock County.

“While we w^ll now be truly locally owned and operated, we will continue to enjoy a valued professional relationship with the previous owners ... through joint marketing and production agreements,” said Nicklin.

The transfer of ownership is effective Jan. 1, at which time Nicklin will take over the position held for the past two years by the paper’s editor, Mary Ann Kuhn, who also served as editor 2002-2005. Office manager Jan Clatterbuck and reporter Roger Piantadosi will remain on the newspaper staff.

Times Community, run by Arundel's son Peter Arundel, also publishes Warrenton's Fauquier Times-Democrat. the Loudoun Times-Mirror in Leesburg (the senior Arundel’s first newspaper purchase in 1963) and weekly papers in Culpeper and Gainesville. In June, it sold its Fairfax County Times to the Gaithersburg. Md.-based Gazette newspaper group, part of The Washington Post Company’s Post-Newsweek Media division.