“The move makes a lot of sense,” said John Willis, the Times’ publisher. “We currently use less that a third of the building we are in now.”
Several production functions moved to the Calhoun Times’ corporate headquarters in Rome in 2002 and in 2003, the printing operations were moved to the Rome News-Tribune, which installed a new state-of-art press.
“Both of those operations took up a lot of room in this building — space that we no longer use or need,” Willis said. “Our new offices will have plenty of room for our editorial and advertising departments, both of which will remain in Calhoun.”
Burgett Mooney, president of News Publishing Co., parent company of the Calhoun Times, said the office and warehouse space at 215 W. Line St. was being leased from Rome Hosiery Mill LLC, which owns the property, but the lease will expire soon.
“It’s a great building, but it is just too large for our current needs,” Mooney said. “This is a perfect time for find a new location, and we were lucky enough to find one that is so close.”
The move is scheduled to be completed by the end of August, Mooney said, adding that News Publishing Co. recently signed a lease with Kinard Realty for the space.
News Publishing Co. technology staff will be working to install phone lines and computer wiring to hook up all of the equipment needed to operate, he said.
“The new location will allow the Times’ staff to concentrate on serving our subscribers and our advertisers instead of worrying about building maintenance and upkeep,” said Otis Raybon, publisher of the Rome News-Tribune. “When we had a printing crew in Calhoun, they handled a lot of those functions.”





