About The News Bulletin

When The News Bulletin began it wanted to change from just being an Old Fort newspaper. The people that owned it at that time wanted a McDowell County newspaper that covered Old Fort, Marion and McDowell County equally. Although that was the goal it did not always work out that way. People still wanted to refer to the newspaper as the Old Fort paper and at times still do today.

In the late 1990's Thurman Padgham and Elenora White took over the newspaper operations. They continued to publish it until March, 2009.

In March 2009, Thurman Padgham decided to retire due to health reasons. At this time, Marche' White, Robert White and Elenora White decided to purchase the newspaper. They wanted the newspaper to continue what it had been doing but with much better coverage of the whole county.

Since March 2009, The News Bulletin has grown tremendously. We started adding color, hired a new Lay-Out Designer, Sherie Rumfelt and hired a part-time reporter, Wendy McAnally. In the past the newspaper had mostly relied on contributors for coverage of local events. We decided that we needed a reporter to cover the Marion City Council meetings and the McDowell County Commissioners meetings. We also needed someone to call on to interview people and cover events as needed.

We also contracted a new photographer, Matt Dymond, that we purchase pictures and coverage of local events from.

We have also recently added a Web-Designer, Dru Heldman. His company, Pinwilz - Unifiweb is responsible for this great new website that you are looking at now. He also owns Catawba Vale Café and TAAS Gallery in Old Fort. He will handle all aspects of the new website. He will also sell the web advertising and handle on-line subscriptions.

By adding all these news aspects, the newspaper has come a long way from its black and white days. We have tried to modernize and upgrade. We want our subscribers to feel that we are giving them the best quality that we can possibly can.

All of our news and advertising are done locally. We have a small but very qualified staff. Marche' White takes care of all the day to day operations, Robert takes care of circulation/rack sales and maintenance while Elenora White helps with anything that needs to be done.

Wendy McAnally, Marche' White and Elenora White take care of the news coverage. Sherie Rumfelt and Marche' White take care of the Lay-Out Design and Advertising. Robert White takes pictures when needed.

We want everyone to know that we are McDowell County's Only Local & Independently Owned Newspaper. We are a family-owned and operated. We strive to make everyone feel that they are receiving a down-home newspaper where they can read local and community news plus read some great contributing writers who write about many different subjects each week.

Our goal is to be the best weekly newspaper in Western North Carolina. We want Old Fort, Marion and McDowell County to be proud that they have a local newspaper that is family-owned and published right here in the county.