ESTÚPIDO SAVANNAH - Monday, February 02, 2009 11:08:47 PM

You might want to buy an extra paper or two for the next 30 days.

Yeah that is probably not a good sign

The Savannah Morning News says their Big Daddy, Morris Publishing, has 30 days to come up with $9.7 million.

And that amazing amount is only an interest payment, a fraction of what they actually owe ($278.5 million in loans), meaning we’ll probably do this debt dance again or the music will stop altogether and this will become a very different party.

Just this past week they hired “two firms that specialize in bankruptcies” this is leading some to speculate about the future of the company.

Some are not just speculating; Standard & Poor's Ratings Services downgraded Morris credit rating to "D" from "CCC” after saying they considered Morris to already be in default because of the interest payment it missed.

S&P says: “We are concerned that the company may file for bankruptcy protection to reduce its debt outstanding”

According to at least one source it is even worse with the future of several publications in doubt.

Editor and Publisher reports: “It (Morris) must sell off assets sufficient to repay its loans -- in full. The sales, or at least letters of intent, must be complete by March 31, and deals must be wrapped up by May 30.”

In other words; they need to have a great big yard sale and sell enough stuff to pay back all that they owe by this spring.

Chances are they will simply renegotiate the renegotiation they just renegotiated but the noose is tightening.