GRAY – The Monument Newspaper and Current Publishing have merged.

Current Publisher Lee Hews Casler and Monument Newspaper Publisher Elizabeth Prata have announced that The Monument has joined the growing family of seven newspapers Current Publishing produces.

The transaction means that Current Publishing is entering a contiguous market that will allow better coordination of news coverage and ad sales.

Prata will continue to be a full-time journalist and will continue to cover Gray and New Gloucester as she has for six years.

The Monument was started by Prata in 2000 as a bi-weekly with a circulation of 3,500. In that time the paper has grown to a weekly with a circulation of 6,000. With The Monument, Current Publishing weekly newspapers will reach more than 45 communities in southern and western Maine and about 175,000 readers.

In addition to these weekly newspapers, Current Publishing has an online community at www.keepmecurrent.com.