Akron News-Reporter

[7] Reneau and Wilkins sold the News-Reporter in May 1989 to American Publishing Company,[nb 9] a subsidiary of Hollinger Corporation of Toronto, Ontario.

In 1990, Karen Ashley was named editor, Bonnie Miller, general manager, and Anita Kraich, ad director.

Robert Berton Cooley (Bert) and his twin brother Herbert Merton (Mert) were born in McGregor, Iowa, October 15, 1875.

Mert was married to Elizabeth Holliday in Knox County Nebraska and to this union two sons were born, Ronald Delos and Merton Beth.

[6] Herbert Merton was the first twin to get into the newspaper business when in 1906 he formed a partnership with a Mr Lawrence to operate the Crofton (Nebraska) Progress.

It is unclear whom the owner(s) of the merged newspaper were at this point but by 1913 Herbert Merton Cooley had become sole proprietor purchasing it from J.B.

[13] Bert and Lou taught school in Plainview, Nebraska, until 1910 when they migrated westward to prove up on a homestead[nb 10] northwest of Flagler, Colorado.

In a tragic automobile accident in 1914, Mert was drowned in the Missouri River after a car in which he was a passenger drove off a pontoon bridge near Yankton, South Dakota.

[15] Bert gave up the Otis Independent and moved the family back to Crofton to assume control of his brother's newspaper and the parenting of his two sons, Ronald and Beth.

But in 1916, because of a worsening allergy condition, Bert sold the Journal and returned to Colorado to resume operation of the Otis Independent, this time with two more "sons" in tow.

[6] For twenty five years beginning in 1912 the sons had worked off and on at their father's newspaper, each deciding to become a newspaperman at one time or another.

[7] Dale started helping as a printer's devil when he was just a youngster, and continued to work with his dad through high school and college, where he earned a degree in journalism at the University of Denver.

Ronald, in his early years, helped his father, Mert, twin brother of Bert, at the Crofton Journal.

When Mert met his untimely death, Ronald continued to help his uncle Bert when he came to Crofton to run his brother's newspaper.

He went on to receive a degree in journalism at the University of Colorado, afterwards returning to Otis to work at the Independent and, later, in Akron at the News-Reporter.

When Mert was killed, Beth continued to help at the Crofton Journal when his uncle Bert assumed the reins.

[6] Coyne was literally born into the newspaper business in a small living space above the Otis Independent print shop.

From Visions, Cooleys, and Graves: Starting his newspaper career by sweeping out the Independent office while he was in grade school, Coyne moved up to printer's devil when he was in seventh grade [about 1919], and to learning the operation of "the great old machine, the Linotype", when he was a high school freshman [about 1920].

Robert Cooley (Bob), the youngest of the three sons of R.B., helped in his father's newspaper during his younger years in Akron.