The infamous smalltime Alabama newspaper owner known for his endorsement of the Ku Klux Klan’s terrorism has left the ink industry.
“He doesn’t even have a key anymore,” Tommy Wells, the new owner of the The Democrat-Reporter newspaper in Linden, Alabama told the Associated Press Thursday, referring to the now-retired former editor and owner Goodloe Sutton.
In February, Sutton’s editorial calling for “the Ku Klux Klan to night ride again” made national headlines.
Referring to “Democrats” and “the industrial northeast,” Sutton wrote: “Seems like the Klan would be welcome to raid the gated communities up there.” Defending the op-ed after a wave of outcry, Sutton told the Montgomery Adviser that the terrorist group “didn’t kill but a few people” and “wasn’t violent until they needed to be.”
Soon after, Sutton (pictured above in 1998) handed over control of the paper to Elecia Dexter, a black woman who resigned after a few weeks, citing Sutton’s interference. A couple days after that, Sutton announced he would sell the paper.
The AP reported Thursday that Wells, who it described as “a sports publicist at a small college in Texas,” and his wife published their first edition of the newspaper last month.
“It’s mine now. I have a bill of sale and everything,” Wells said.
