Thursday, October 1, 2026
I will always remember looking down at my phone on that day very early in 2020 and seeing that Jerry Tidwell was calling.
I have known Mr. Tidwell for many years. I grew up in Granbury. I played soccer with Mr. Tidwell’s son Derek. The Hood County News sponsored that team. One of the senior reporters at Hood County News, Rose Thyne, was the coach of that team. Derek also was in my grade at school. And probably most importantly, my first job was working for the Hood County News as an inserter when I was in fifth and sixth grade. I used to get out of Granbury Intermediate School Wednesdays and walk down Bridge Street to the Hood County News office on the square.
So, I had no idea why Jerry Tidwell was calling me that day, but of course I took his call. Mr. Tidwell began talking to me about how I should buy the Hood County News and move my law office into that location. My first impression was that Mr. Tidwell just wanted to sell me the Hood County News real estate. I explained to Mr. Tidwell I was, in fact, looking for some extra space because I had completely outgrown my current office building.
At that time, my actual plan was to find another spot similar in size to my current office, to add a second location in Granbury. However, if I purchased the Hood County News building, that 14,000-square-foot building would be more than enough space to accommodate my ever-growing law practice. So, I told Mr. Tidwell I was open to discussing a possible purchase of that real estate if we could reach a mutually acceptable price. We kept talking for several minutes, and at some point, I began to realize what Mr. Tidwell actually wanted me to do. I said, “Wait a second, Mr. Tidwell. Are you saying that you want to sell me the newspaper, not just the real estate?!” To which he replied, “Yes, Paul. That is what I am calling you about.”
My first response was to say, “Mr. Tidwell, I appreciate the offer, but I have zero interest in purchasing a newspaper in 2020. The newspaper business certainly appears to be a dying industry, and I cannot see myself getting tied up in that.” But we kept talking. Mr. Tidwell made me aware the Hood County News was going to be shut down very soon, probably within the next few weeks, if he was unable to find a buyer for it who was willing to keep it going.
As a guy whose family first moved to Granbury in 1974 when I was three years old, the Hood County News has been a constant in my life and the lives of most Hood County residents. It has always been the best way to keep up with all the “goings-on” in Hood County, whether it was something as important as major decisions being considered and made by our elected officials or something as simple as Ms. Alice Price reporting on what various members of the community were doing these days.
Ms. Price would report on who had come to visit Granbury, where our fellow Hood County citizens had visited, and everything in between. Pretty much anyone who lived in Hood County in the 1970s and early 1980s remembers Alice Price walking up to them in the grocery store or any number of other places and asking, “Do you have any news to report to the paper?” Back then, even if your grandmother came to Granbury to visit you for your birthday, Ms. Price would put it in the paper.
The Hood County News is where you would keep up with all the youth sports teams, scouting activities, the annual Hood County Stock Show, who is on the A or AB Honor Roll in all the schools, and even read the wonderful letters to Santa from the elementary school kids. To this day, I still love searching through the Hood County News archives to see all of the Hood County activities at any given time. Our entire history is within the archives of the Hood County News, and I hated to see the end of this important part of our history.
So, with the thought in mind that I did not want us to lose the Hood County News, I decided that I was going to do whatever I could to stop it. I decided that I was going to go ahead and try to buy the Hood County News as a business and buy the real estate that houses the Hood County News.
I went home that night and told my wife, Stephanie, that I was considering purchasing the Hood County News. Understandably, Stephanie was not exactly thrilled about that plan. She told me very frankly, “I do not think this is a good idea. I think owning the Hood County News will put our family under a microscope.” (Stephanie is a very private person). She went on to say, “However, now that I have stated my opinion, I will support you in whatever decision you make, as I always do, and I will hope for the best.”
That is Stephanie. She knows she married someone who is just a little bit crazy, and who is always looking for the next adventure, the next challenge and the next business opportunity. For 25 years, through all my craziness, Steph has always been there, supporting me, cheering me on, and hanging on for dear life. Because on any given day, there’s no telling what I am going to come home and tell her I am going to do next.
She frequently can be heard saying, “I hitched my wagon to a comet, and I’m just along for the ride.” My three amazing children, Lillian, Lucas and Brylea, have learned to live with the good and the bad of being the children of Paul Hyde. As to be expected, at any given moment, they hear and see large amounts of criticism of their dad and praise for their dad. They all three have learned to just take it all in stride, and for that, I am so thankful for all of them. They are amazing kids/young adults. For that, Stephanie and I are immensely proud and grateful.
With Stephanie’s “blessing,” I got my banker on the phone to see if bank financing for this venture was even a possibility. Thankfully, my banker happened to be Kevin Winters, a good longtime friend of mine. We have known each other since we were both in second grade. Kevin also is a former soccer teammate and good friend. Kevin’s dad, Dr. Winters, was my doctor throughout my entire childhood.
(Isn’t it amazing how tied together all of us longtime Hood County residents are)? I presented everything to Kevin, and he said he thought he could make the financing work and he could help me put this entire deal together. For that, and many other reasons, I will always be thankful for Kevin Winters as both a friend and a trusted financial advisor.
So, I had Stephanie’s “blessing.” I had a preliminary approval on the financing. Now I just had to figure out how this was going to work.
I have had many different jobs and a few careers in my life thus far. Newspaper owner was never a job possibility I had ever considered. I had no idea how this was going to work. I knew I didn’t have the time to run the day-to-day operations. I would need to hire someone to come on board with me and lead the charge.
Within the past couple of years or so, I had developed a bit of a business friendship with Sam Houston. I first got acquainted with Sam while he was working at Granbury Live. In the previous year, I was involved with the opening of The Bridge Church with Pastor Shane Brooks, and The Bridge’s first location was Granbury Live. So, we already had a good working relationship with Sam. Sam and his wife, Teresa, had recently been wed. I had performed their wedding ceremony the previous New Year’s Eve.
I called Sam on the phone to ask him if I could take him to lunch because I wanted to discuss a possible business opportunity with him. I knew Sam had been heavily involved in the entertainment industry for many years, in addition to being an attorney and also a horse trader. As we were getting off the phone, I asked Sam, “By the way, do you have any newspaper experience?” Sam replied that he did not. We hung up, and Sam turned to Teresa and said, “I think Paul is going to buy the newspaper and wants me to run it.” As you can see, Sam is very perceptive.
Sam and I sat down to lunch. As he suspected, I let him know that I was going to buy the Hood County News, and I needed him to run it for me. As I said, Sam and Teresa were basically newlyweds. Sam already was considering his future and plans for semi-retirement. I thought getting him to come on board with me probably was a long shot, but I had to give it a try. Much to my surprise, Sam was actually interested. We had lunch and basically worked out a plan to try and make this work.
We spent the next couple of months getting everything together, obtaining financing (thanks again, Kevin Winters). We closed on the purchase and took it on. We published our first issue in August of 2020.
The Hood County News now was in the hands of two lawyers, both with a bit of entertainment business history and both with a bit of horse-trading skills — Sam as an actual horse trader, me as a businessman and someone who had previously worked in the car business. I have frequently said, when engaging in a very important and somewhat risky business venture in Texas, you can’t go wrong having a man named Sam Houston leading the charge.
We brought back many of the employees who had previously been laid off. We decided we were going to publish a local paper that covers everything in Hood County. We all have a deep love of Hood County and the people of Hood County. We wanted the paper to highlight all the wonderful aspects of this amazing place that we all call home. Our hope was if a tourist came to town and picked up a copy of the Hood County News, they would be able to read about everything currently happening in Hood County and also would know what a great place this is to visit and also to live.
When it came to covering the delicate subject of politics, we decided we only would cover local politics, nothing state or national, unless it directly involved Hood County. We would just report the facts and not allow any editorial opinions to be added to any of the political coverage; “Just the facts, ma’am,” as Sgt. Friday used to say in Dragnet. I believe Sam and I accomplished the goals we set for ourselves when we took on the newspaper, and I am very proud of the work we did.
Newspapers are such an integral part of life in the United States of America. The Founding Fathers understood the importance of a free press to liberty and to a free society. History has taught us that one of the first things a tyrannical government tries to do is silence and/or take over the press. Newspapers record our history. Newspapers inform us, entertain us and connect us.
About a month ago, I was watching a documentary about the 2016 World Series win by the Chicago Cubs. This was the first Cubs’ World Series win since 1908, and you might remember it was a very exciting series where the Cubs came back from a 3-1 series deficit to take Game 7 in the 10th inning. A man who was a lifetime Cubs fan, whose deceased father also had been a lifetime Cubs fan, tearfully told the story of how he bought a copy of the Chicago Tribune celebrating the win and laid it on his father’s grave.
And I thought to myself, “That is a great example of why newspapers are so important to all of us. They connect us and they mark important milestones in our lives.” I pray that, in these changing times, we all still recognize the importance of local newspapers.
Hyde Media Group published our first issue of the Hood County News Aug. 15, 2020, during its 134th year of publication. I have always said the Hood County News belongs to the people of Hood County. We have just been the caretakers for the past six years.
Many people have contributed to its success throughout the years. I am especially grateful to everyone who has contributed to its success during our time. This venture would never have worked without the talent, expertise and, probably most importantly, simple hard work coupled with lots of blood, sweat and tears from so many incredible and wonderful people that we had the privilege of working alongside for the past six years.
During our time as caretakers, this team of newspaper professionals won so many awards and accolades, I wouldn’t even know how to begin listing them. If you have ever been inside the Hood County News office building, you have no doubt noticed the awards that are just everywhere. I frequently tell people, you cannot take three steps in that building without tripping on a press award.
Throughout the entire six years, many longtime newspaper owners would reach out to Sam Houston to learn about the things Sam was doing to make the Hood County News successful. During our six years, we continually won awards for being the fastest-growing newspaper in all of Texas.
From a strictly business standpoint, the Hood County News had been on a steady decline for many years before we took it over. We not only stopped the decline, but we also increased readership, subscriptions, advertising and revenue, every single year we had the paper. For that, I am immensely proud.
Caretaking the Hood County News for the past six years has been one of my proudest life accomplishments. When Sam and I took over, I had an immense fear the Hood County News would fail under my ownership and that a huge part of my life legacy in Hood County would be that I was the person who caused the newspaper to fail after 134 years of publication. I am so very grateful that this did not happen.
We are leaving the Hood County News in very competent, experienced and knowledgeable hands in its 140th year. I pray that the good people of Hood County will continue their support of the Hood County News. Regardless of who the current caretaker is, the Hood County News belongs to you, the people of Hood County.
The Hood County News is more than ink on paper. It is more than just words on a website or a social media page. This is a chronicle of the lives of the people of Hood County. It’s where we celebrate our successes, remember those we have lost, and preserve the moments that, in time, have become our history.
I have been fortunate to be the caretaker of that history for a small chapter of the Hood County News’ long life. As I prepare to hand that responsibility to someone else, I hope the people of Hood County will remember a newspaper cannot survive on the efforts of its journalists and staff alone. It survives because a community believes its stories matter. It survives because people read it, subscribe to it, advertise in it, contribute to it and, most importantly, care enough to support it.
My continued prayer is the wonderful people of Hood County will continue to value our little local newspaper and make sure it remains here for generations to come. I have always loved searching through the archives to get an insight into what life was like here in years past and to remind myself of how wonderful it was to have the privilege of growing up in Hood County.
And I know someday, when someone wants to know what Hood County was like in our time, they will look back at these pages — and find us there. With my deepest gratitude to everyone reading this
Paul D. Hyde, proud resident of Hood County
