
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, July 27, 1995                   TAG: 9507270044
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: DANVILLE                                 LENGTH: Short

DANVILLE BUYER ASKS JUDGE TO FORCE SALE

A newspaper publisher whose attempt to buy the Danville Register & Bee was canceled has filed suit asking a judge to require the sale or award him $10 million.

Charles A. Womack Jr. of Danville filed the suit Tuesday against American National Bank & Trust Co. in Pittsylvania County Circuit Court.

Womack contends the bank broke a 1994 contract to sell the paper to him for $19 million. The deal dissolved in January 1995 after Attorney General Jim Gilmore questioned whether Womack's bid was the best price and whether the bank had considered all bids.

Womack said the bank canceled the deal in part because it wanted to earn a higher commission on the sale of newspaper stock. At the time, the bank said it had decided to reopen the bidding because of ``better-than-projected operations at the paper and improved market valuations since the current agreement was made.''

The Register & Bee has been part of the E. Stuart James Grant Charitable Trust, managed by the bank, since Grant died in 1990. She was the paper's longtime owner and publisher.

Proceeds from the sale of newspaper stock will fund the trust and its nine beneficiaries.

Womack's suit asks that the bank be prohibited from marketing or selling the paper until his case is tried. A trial date has not been set.

An attorney representing the bank, Edward J. Fuhr, said the contract with Womack allowed the bank to cancel the deal if litigation was threatened or if one of the trust's beneficiaries objected.

by CNB