About

Lee W. Herrin established the Pearson Tribune in 1914 in Coffee County, Georgia. Herrin’s printing offices, however, were actually based out of the nearby town of Millwood and the Tribune published from that town for two years. The Tribune circulated weekly at a subscription cost of one dollar, and supported the Democratic Party. Sam C. Fackler bought the paper from Herrin in 1915 and, under Fackler, the paper expanded. After purchasing an up-to-date printing press, Fackler moved the Tribune’s operations to Pearson and hired Lovic Pharr as an associate editor. In May 1917, anticipating the formation of Atkinson County, Benjamin T. Allen, former owner and editor of the Tifton Gazette, bought the Tribune. When Pearson became Atkinson’s county seat, the Pearson Tribune became the county’s paper of record. Allen had lived in Pearson since 1915, operating a law firm with his nephew, B. H. Allen. By July 1917, the Tribune’s staff consisted of Benjamin T. and B. H. Allen and Sam and Bob Fackler. Although most of those early employees left for other careers by 1918, Benjamin T. Allen served as the paper’s editor-in-chief until his retirement in 1929. In 1955, the Pearson Tribune absorbed the recently-established Atkinson County Citizen and became the Atkinson County Citizen and the Pearson Tribune. The Tribune Publishing Company printed the paper under this title until 1976 when it was shortened to the Atkinson County Citizen, which continues to circulate today as the county’s legal organ.