THE ROCKWALL FILES

Rowlett, Royse City and Rock-wall are getting a lot of press these days, but not in the traditional sense. The three towns have merged their respective newspapers to create one larger publication.

On October 6, the Rowlett Record, the Rochvall Lakeside News and the Royse City American merged to become the Lakeside Record American, which is based in Rowlett. The merger resulted from the sale of the three publications to two area businessmen and one Dallas attorney. The Record, which was founded in 1975 by the Rowlett Jaycees, was purchased last year by Dallas condo king Danny Faulkner. The 14-page publication recently converted from a weekly to a semiweekly format and was sold to Dallasite Jerry Biesel’s J.B. Publications.

The Royse City and Rockwall weeklies were owned by U.S. Rep. Ralph Hall of Rockwall before Perry Bodin of Rockwall and Bill Paschal of Garland purchased the two papers for more than $500,000. Bodin and Paschal then joined forces with Biesel, each retaining one-third interest in the new paper.

The staff of the Lakeside Record American consists of eight writers and editors, and one-person bureaus also have been established in Royse City and Rockwall. Dorothy Neville, the former editor of the Rowlett Record, is the paper’s new managing editor.