about.

The Clinton County Leader has been a staple in local homes and businesses for more than 120 years. The Leader provides award-winning coverage for Plattsburg, Lathrop, Gower and outlying areas of Clinton County, Missouri, including news about local governments, communities, school, sports and more.

Owned by the Tinnen Family

The Leader, a publication of Tinnen Publishing, is family-owned and operated by Steve and Sue Tinnen of Plattsburg, Mo. The business has been in the Tinnen family since 1969, when J.W. “Skip” and Franc E. Tinnen purchased it from the Biggerstaff family. ​

Award Winning

Since 2009, The Leader has won more than 100 awards from the Missouri Press Association, including both the 2013 and 2014 Missouri Class 1 Weekly Gold Medals, and the 2017 Missouri Class 1 General Excellence award. Staff members have won first place awards for breaking news reporting, feature writing, photography, newspaper design and, above all, community service.

A Rich History

In addition to The Leader, Tinnen Publishing prints The Paper, a shopper publication offering advertising services to businesses throughout the Kansas City northland. The Paper is mailed to thousands of homes throughout the region each and every Tuesday.
 
The Clinton County Leader combines and continues the rich tradition of newspapers in Clinton County, Missouri. Established in 1895 by John M. McMichael as The Plattsburg Leader, the publication has had a host of local owners in its history. Charles F. Ward purchased The Leader in 1917 and continued its ownership until 1950, when he sold it to John and Helen Biggerstaff. Though Ward was the owner, the Biggerstaffs had been with the business longer, having worked in the office since 1913. The Biggerstaffs held ownership of the paper through 1968 before selling the business to the Tinnen Family.
 
In 1936, The Plattsburg Leader purchased the rival Clinton County Democrat, brining an end to a decades-old newspaper battle.
 
The two publications competed for the attention of local readers throughout the early 1900s. In '36, the Democrat's publisher, Edmond McWilliams, ended the feud by selling his paper to a party outside of this rivalry. But within the year, the party who had purchased the Democrat sold it to Charles F. Ward, the publisher of The Leader.
 
On learning his former paper had been sold to his rival, McWilliams burned all of the old newspapers and records he had collected in his office. The Democrat, originally named the Clinton County Register, was established in 1866.
 
In 1990, the 83-year-old Lathrop Optimist was consolidated with The Plattsburg Leader, and two continued under a new banner: The Clinton County Leader.
 
In 2014, Tinnen Publishing purchased the Rural Reporter, a weekly newspaper with editions covering Lathrop and Gower, from founder and publisher Pauli Clariday. The Rural Reporter was established in Lathrop in 1996 by Pauli Clariday and later expanded to cover Gower and the East Buchanan School District.​