 Hoiles, who built the Freedom Communications newspaper chain around the Santa Ana paper that became the Orange County Register, bought the "Appeal-Democrat" in 1946 and placed his son-in-law Robert C. Hardie in charge as its publisher.Hardie directed the paper for the next 55 years, as circulation rose from about 7,500 to more than 20,000.Even as residents and businesses gradually shifted west from Marysville to nearby Yuba City, Hardie kept the "Appeal-Democrat" in its longtime home, twice acquiring new headquarters there (in 1950 and 1986).