The Catoosa County News will continue to serve the county in 2004 as the county’s legal organ.

Sheriff Phil Summers, Probate Judge Greg Grayson and Superior Court Clerk Norman Stone voted unanimously Friday, Dec. 12, to choose The Catoosa County News over the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

Both newspapers requested consideration for legal organ status, the designation given to a county’s official newspaper. The legal organ publishes all legal advertising.

Don Stilwell, publisher of The Catoosa County News, asked officials to remain with the county’s current legal organ.

“As Catoosa County’s community newspaper, we have a genuine interest in what goes on here,” he said. “This newspaper goes far beyond big headlines. We want more from this community than advertising dollars.

“Our recent publication of a 100-page magazine celebrating Catoosa’s 150th anniversary is a perfect example,” he said. “We do many things — community-type, hometown things — that no other publication does.”

The Catoosa County News has served as legal organ since its founding in 1949.

The newspaper’s staff has garnered 36 Georgia Press Association awards since 1991, including a 2003 general excellence award as best newspaper in its circulation division in the state.

The county’s legal advertising currently appears each week in more than 24,000 newspapers of The Catoosa County News, Fort Oglethorpe Press and Catoosa County Plus