BUSINESS : Newspaper Turning a New Page : Michael De Wees, who bought the Sierra Madre News in November, plans to promote a hometown feeling and to expand coverage of Arcadia.

The 88-year-old Sierra Madre News is now the property of a 25-year-old, self-made entrepreneur, but the new owner says the community weekly will retain its small-town feel.

“I’ve kept most of the staff and I’m keeping its role in the community as a homey, hometown newspaper,” owner Michael De Wees said. “I’m hoping to expand its Arcadia coverage and provide more of a community hometown-feeling paper for there too.”

Community news, social calendars and local club events will remain mainstays of the paper, which sells for 50 cents an issue, he said.

De Wees bought the 3,000-circulation weekly Nov. 23 from Jan Reed, who had been its publisher for 14 years, for a sum he declined to disclose. Reed, who will stay on at the News as advertising manager, had struggled to keep the newspaper in business last year after paying the financial costs of defending herself against a lawsuit by a former employee. The lawsuit has since been settled out of court.

The paper has 15 full-time and part-time employees.

De Wees, a Glendale native, is also publisher and owner of the Mid-Valley News, an El Monte-based weekly given free to 15,000 readers. He purchased that paper four years ago, when it was in bankruptcy. As a former employee who was owed a considerable amount of back pay, he used his position as a creditor to buy the paper for relatively little money, he said; now, he and El Monte community sources said, the paper is making a profit.

The jury is still out on the Sierra Madre paper’s change of ownership.

“I think its much too early to tell,” Sierra Madre Mayor Maryann MacGillivray said. “We’re very proud of our hometown newspaper and obviously change is difficult.”

Former Mayor Clem L. Bartolai, a subscriber, said it seems that the News is not covering some small events and groups it used to, but he notes that the new publisher may not have gotten into the local network yet.

“I think his age is not as important as how well he assimilates into the community,” Bartolai said.

De Wees’ experience in El Monte has already taught him the burdens of youth.

“I get comments all the time in the beginning when I meet people. I bought my first paper at 21,” De Wees said. “It’s a lot of hard work and I have done everything from publisher to paperboy.”

He was an advertising manager at the San Marino Tribune before joining Mid-Valley in a similar position.

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De Wees said the Sierra Madre paper cost him about as much as “a cheap house or very expensive car.” He made the purchase because the small community has shown it is willing to support a hometown newspaper and because of the unique character of the city at the base of the foothills, De Wees said. “Sierra Madre is a shining piece of Americana you don’t see anymore.”

De Wees said he had been negotiating for more than a year for the News. Last year, the paper became financially troubled after Councilman George A. Maurer, a former employee, filed a $200,000 suit against Reed and the paper, alleging age discrimination and breach of contract. Maurer contended that he was fired from his job as print shop foreman in 1990; Reed maintained that he left by mutual consent.

Last year, after Reed accumulated hefty legal bills, residents formed the “Friends of Sierra News” to save the paper. Since then, an undisclosed settlement has been reached out of court, Maurer said.

“I think the new owner is determined enough to make a go of it,” said Maurer, who met with De Wees recently. “He is young, but you’ve got to consider he already has two newspapers.”

De Wees stayed up all Tuesday night preparing this week’s paper for print. Last week, he said, he went three days without sleep.

Some changes have already been made to the overall design, staff and its office location in Sierra Madre, De Wees said.

The News has moved about 100 yards away to 46 S. Baldwin Ave. It has a new banner to give it a more modern look and De Wees said he will give the Arcadia community news pages a separate banner on the inside pages. De Wees has named Lynne Eodice, an editor and photographer with Mid-Valley, as managing editor of Arcadia news, replacing JoAnn Scott, an employee for eight years who has left the paper. De Wees is covering the Sierra Madre council himself to get a better feel for the town.