MARBLE HILL -- Leland and Joan Flor, owners and publishers of The Banner-Press in Marble Hill, announced Thursday that the newspaper has been purchased by Concord Publishing House Inc. of Cape Girardeau.

Concord Publishing, which includes the Southeast Missourian and Concord Printing, is a subsidiary of Rust Communications Inc., of which Gary Rust is the principal owner. Rust Communications also includes Missouri newspapers in Poplar Bluff, Dexter, Kennett, Advance, Chaffee and Bloomfield as well as Arkansas publications in Blyetheville and Osceola.

The Flor family has owned the Banner-Press, which is the newspaper of record for Bollinger County, for 18 years.

In a column published in this week's edition Joan Flor wrote: "Lee and I have reached a point in our lives when we feel the need to take it a littler easier ... so we wanted to semi-retire and wanted to be sure the new owner would be knowledgeable, capable and dedicated to maintaining a good community newspaper for Bollinger County.

"We have seen them (Concord Publishing House) operate several existing small weeklies that were not in good financial shape. Rather than letting them close, so the community would lose its newspaper and thus part of its identity, the Gary Rust organization has improved these papers and gotten them back on their feet, so to speak. We know they are committed to keeping hometown newspapers alive and thriving, which in turn helps the whole community."

The Flors plan to remain in Bollinger County and Joan Flor will write a weekly column for the Banner-Press, which has been publishing continuously since 1881. Banner Video, a video rental store, is included in the purchase.

Wally Lage, chief operating officer for Rust Communications, said the acquired businesses have a total of 10 employees and no staff changes are planned.