Tony Janssen, Jeff Reid, Eileen Thompson and Ashley Cunningham

After an 11-year run with Eileen Thompson at the helm, the monthly CAPS publication has been sold.

The new owners of CAPS will be Tony Janssen (far left) and Jeff Reid (background) who currently own the Scugog Communications Group known as SCG. The CAPS publication will be a welcome addition to the current SCG portfolio. Though SCG has been in operation for only two years, Tony Janssen has run a very successful printing business for over 35 years. Tony also notes that members of his family were long involved in community newspapers, providing local news to surrounding areas, therefore the newspaper industry is not new to him. Both Tony and Jeff are familiar with the City of Kawartha Lakes and the area served by the CAPS publication. They have family in the Little Britain, Oakwood and Lindsay areas, and many residents will be familiar with the Reid name because of the family's history in the grocery business. Tony says down the road he'd like to see CAPS with more pages, more copies and more news. He enjoys the more informal feel of the product and plans to keep that tone to the publication.

Readers will notice that the next edition will have a fresh new look to it, and “we are going to encourage more community involvement.” Tony invites readers to submit community notices, stories, ideas and photos to CAPS.

The change in ownership came about after Eileen decided to pursue other interests. She was giving up CAPS just as SCG was looking to expand. While Eileen is a little sad to pass over the publication which has been a large part of her life for more than a decade, she's pleased to see her legacy being carried on with new owners. “That is a really, really big thing,” she says of her confidence in the new owners. “I'm so happy that my baby is going to someone who is going to take care of it and make it bigger and better.” “It's going to professionals who are going to do a good job with it,” says Eileen.

This edition is the very last one that will have work done by Eileen. She recently visited clients to introduce them to SCG's Sales Rep Ashley Cunningham, (pictured top right). Everyone will be hearing or seeing Ashley very, very soon. “The CAPS publication,” says Eileen, “has always been well received”. The product was originally started as an affordable means of local advertising for home-based business owners. When she started the publication, it was four pages of business ads being distributed to 1 ,000 people. Ten months later, the 16-page product had a circulation of 10,000.

Tony says the publication will remain titled CAPS and will be distributed monthly. Residents will continue to receive the product in their mail boxes and current distribution boxes will remain where they are. New distribution outlets are being sought; anyone who would like to carry CAPS or have a box, please call the Scugog Communications Group at the toll-free number, 1-888-301-0055.

Readers and advertisers can also contact the publication at production@scugogcg.com. Area journalist and columnist Deb Bartlett will be a contributor to the publication. Anyone with story ideas can contact her directly at deb.bartlett@live.com.

Scugog Communications Group
201 North Street
Port Perry, Ontario

(905) 985-9755