[1] W. George Elliott, another long-time Princeton resident, purchased the News Leader from the Johnsons in 2004, taking over the day-to-day operation on February 1, 2004.
The 'final eight' issues were branded as Collector's Editions with historic features in each from the past almost twenty years of the Similkameen News Leader.
[6] Elliott was named a Paul Harris Fellow by the Princeton (British Columbia) Rotary Club on November 16, 2016 in honour of the contributions he had made to the community with the Similkameen News Leader.
After 50 weeks had passed following the closure of the printed version of the News Leader, Elliott brought the brand back to life in social media providing frequent daily updates related to a wildfire in the area.
In June 2023, the Princeton Museum & Archives Society started to digitize the entire catalogue of Similkameen News Leader issues under agreement with former newspaper owner/publisher W. George Elliott.
The Princeton Museum launched a new website February 1, 2024 which hosts the complete 940+ weekly digitized issues of the Similkameen News Leader.