Andrew O'Byrne Sr. and Andrew O'Byrne Jr. have started two newspapers: one for Bamberg County, the other for eastern Orangeburg County.

The announcement of the two new newspapers follows the closure of the Bamberg Advertizer-Herald, the Holly Hill Observer and the Santee Striper.

The new papers will be called the Bamberg County Leader and the Orangeburg Leader.

"We believe in community newspapers," O'Byrne Sr. said.

"We followed our hearts to South Carolina. We have been publishing here for 10 years,” he said.

The Bamberg County Leader will cover Bamberg County and the Orangeburg Leader will cover the Santee and Holly Hill areas.

The Bamberg County Leader's first edition came out Oct. 7. The Orangeburg Leader's first edition came out Oct. 8.

The newspapers will be printed out of Waynesboro, Georgia.

O'Byrne said both papers are independently owned.

"We are not affiliated with the county," O'Byrne said.

The papers seek to provide a public service to both Orangeburg and Bamberg counties with local news coverage, he said.

The papers will be using the former Advertizer-Herald, Holly Hill Observer and Santee Striper newspaper boxes. The owners also purchased leftover paper rolls from the three former papers.

The men also own and publish The Calhoun Times Leader, the Wagener-based Aiken Leader and the Kershaw-based Kershaw News-Era.

The Advertizer-Herald, the Santee Striper and the Holly Hill Observer announced they were closing on Sept. 30. Those papers were previously owned by Manchester, Georgia-based Trib Publications.

This story initially reported the O’Byrnes purchased the Bamberg Advertizer-Herald, the Holly Hill Observer and the Santee Striper. That is incorrect and this story has been corrected.