Signal Rival : Newhalls to Found New Paper

The Newhall family will start a second newspaper in the Santa Clarita Valley to compete with the Newhall Signal, once again giving a voice to outspoken editors Scott and Ruth Newhall.

Ruth Newhall, 78, who with her husband Scott, 74, and son Tony, 47, quit the Signal last week, said Monday that the new newspaper will begin publication in three or four weeks. She said the paper at first will be either weekly or semi-weekly.

The Newhalls abruptly resigned from the Signal’s three top posts last Tuesday after 25 years. They attributed their departure to a long-festering conflict over finances and stock ownership with the newspaper’s absentee owner, Morris Newspaper Corp. of Savannah. Ga.

Word of the Newhalls’ intention to start a competing newspaper failed to surprise Morris officials.

“We thought they probably would,” said Darell Phillips--publisher of the Manteca Bulletin--who will supervise the management changeover. “They had mentioned that possibility.

Signal Called Strong

“The Newhall Signal does a good job,” Phillips said. “Basically, with competition from the Newhalls or without, we’ll just do the best job possible in the area.”

Ruth Newhall and her husband had discussed the possibility of founding their own newspaper “for quite a while,” she said. “We went out to lunch that last day at the Signal and said, ‘Let’s do it.’ And here we are.”

“At my age, I must be crazy,” she added.

She said she will be editor of the new, as yet unnamed, publication and that her husband will be the publisher. Tony will not join his parents in the venture. Instead, his mother said, he will establish an independent computer consulting company.

In the new publication, Scott Newhall, editor of the San Francisco Chronicle for 20 years, once again will write the fulminating front-page editorials that have made him a legendary curmudgeon in California journalism.

For example, his last editorial in the Signal published Aug. 7 criticized the demeanor of Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies, saying that “truculence and ill manners” have “become the trademark of the khaki-clad gumshoes” of that department. He wrote that Sheriff Sherman Block “would be wise to send his jolly hog callers to some duly-accredited charm school.”

“Scott will not be silenced now,” his wife said.

Column to Continue

A journalist for more than 50 years and a former crime reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, Ruth Newhall wrote a column under the name of Mimi in the Signal. She said the feature will move with the Newhalls to the new publication. The column is so popular that one Santa Clarita Valley civic leader said: “You haven’t made it until your name has been in Mimi’s column.”

“I’m going to the Parks and Recreation Commission meeting tomorrow night to gather material for the column,” Ruth Newhall said.

The Newhalls already have rented office space on Valencia Boulevard near the Valencia Civic Center, not far from the Signal’s new office. They said they also have begun interviewing prospective reporters, bookkeepers, advertising and circulation personnel.

“We’ll have a very small staff to start with,” Ruth Newhall said. “We’re getting people who know the area. It’s not a question of breaking them in. We have people whose capabilities are well known to us.”

She said some members of the Signal’s present staff probably would join the Newhalls’ new venture, but only if they apply for the jobs.

“We’re really looking forward to it,” she said. “I’m very optimistic and that’s half the battle.”