Happy Sunaversary! Verndale Sun celebrates 15 years under Bennings’ leadership
by Trinity Gruenberg
The Verndale Sun is celebrating 15 years under the ownership of Ray and Marlo Benning. But the legacy of the newspaper business extends far beyond that.
The Bennings took over the publication on June 15, 2009, purchasing it from the Citizen’s Advocate owners, sisters Mary Drewes, Carol Clauson, and Sonya Grabe. The sisters purchased the Sun from Blade Publishing in Browerville in 2006.
The Citizen’s Advocate crew realized the distance they were traveling from Henning to maintain a presence in Verndale while also running the Advocate was becoming increasingly complex, along with changing staff and their father’s illness. They made the difficult decision to sell.
The Bennings made an offer on the business. They owned the Independent News Herald in Clarissa which they purchased in 2000. The Sun bordered their coverage area and they also covered the Bertha-Hewitt-Verndale sports and had other overlapping coverage so they thought it would be a good fit.
After the purchase, they added some new features to the Sun and gave it a new look. They also included neighboring communities in their readership coverage.
The Sun office remains on Farwell Street in the former Tarrell Insurance building, next to the laundromat....
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