March 31 will mark the end of an era of sorts, and April 1 the beginning of a new one, for The Kipling Citizen.

Michael Kearns, managing editor, has announced that the newspaper has been sold.

Fore Front Enterprises of Estevan is purchasing the shares of South East Press Ltd., publisher of The Citizen, and will assume ownership April 1.

Michael and Jane Kearns will be leaving the firm to pursue other interests. The Kearns’ will retain the commercial printing portion of the business, the equipment for which was excluded from the sale.

Longtime Citizen employee Laura Kish will become office manager. Megan Windjack will stay on as typist/receptionist.

While some changes in production methods are likely, a spokesman for Fore Front Enterprises said it will be “business as usual” for the time being. The weekly copy and advertising deadlines will remain the same, as will the Friday publishing day.

Mr. Kearns says their intention is to take some time off to explore other avenues, beginning sometime in April, before reopening the commercial printing business. A date for the reopening has not been determined.

The Kearns family has owned and operated the newspaper for more than 60 years. Thomas and Emily Kearns purchased The Kipling Citizen, which was then 10 years old, from the Davis brothers in October of 1946, upon Tom’s discharge from the armed forces.

Sons Michael and Scott moved back to Kipling in the early 1970’s, after stints with The Leader-Post and CKOS Television, respectively, and joined Thomas and Emily (Tom and Kay) in the business.

A few years later, their brother Kevin also moved back and worked alongside them for a few years. During this time, in 1975, South East Press Ltd. was incorporated, the present building was erected, and more sophisticated equipment was brought into use.

Kevin later left to start Kearns Equipment Co. Ltd., the heavy construction equipment sales and brokerage company that he operates to this day.

In 2000, Scott Kearns also left the firm. He and his wife Marjorie currently publish The Country Register, a guide to specialty shopping and attractions in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

In more recent years, a third generation of the Kearns family has been involved in the family business. Amanda Kearns and Alicia Koch, both of them daughters of Michael and Jane, have served in various capacities including advertising sales, typesetting, photo enhancement and website maintenance. Alicia is currently on parental leave and Amanda is attending post-secondary school in Regina.

Early in his tenure, Thomas Kearns coined the slogan “The Tongue of the Buckle of the Wheat Belt” for The Citizen and the newspaper became widely read and often quoted. Readers may have noticed that this slogan, while perhaps not so apropos as it was at the time of its inception, was reintroduced at the beginning of 2007, “for old times’ sake”, during negotiation of the pending sale.