This week has had a lot of ups and downs. I spent last week wrapping up a lot of little things I needed to close out for 2023. On top of that, we put out an incredible news-packed, 40-page paper that was on the stands last Thursday (Wednesday in some locations). This week will be 40 pages as well. I am so thankful to have all of the amazing people on staff who make the newspaper happen every week. Check out page 3 of the newspaper to find out more about who we are as a TEAM.
Thursday and Friday we had a full day and half day TEAM meeting. First with department heads and then with some of our support staff. We have weekly editorial meetings and now will have monthly department head meetings, moving forward.
Saturday, I stood at the stop sign at Highway 119 and School Road for about 35 minutes. I handed out over 100 Taste of the Peaks…. where to eat and drink in the region from Allenspark to Central City. People were nice. Some rolled their windows down and said hi. Most waved. A few honked and smiled. The sheriff, an Eldora employee, and Jerry the plumber stopped to make sure I was okay.
Is THIS how we get people to stop and eat, drink, and shop in our local communities? I’m all for it and having a ball.
After that we circulated another 350 throughout Nederland. I want to thank Jeff Ballard for helping make that a reality. Thursday, he will bring more copies down and saturate a few spots in Boulder. Visitors in Boulder LOVE this guide. This is TEAMWORK, and we’re always excited to have more people willing to help our TEAM.
Sunday, I worked more on catching up and closing out 2023. I’m almost there.
Monday, I woke up super early and worked at home for several hours. Then I went to the Gilpin Rec Center and took a class I love. Then I worked in Nederland all afternoon. With our new designer on staff, I am able to focus on other aspects of my job and feel like I am getting a firm grip on things I have not been able to focus on during the last year of training others.
Monday night, I opened an email from a newspaper I recently subscribed to. And it helped me clarify a bit in my own mind about being a community newspaper. I know WHY we do this, but I get caught up in people getting upset with us for what we need to do as a news source for our entire region.
In my email tonight, I received a message from the Ouray County Plaindealer. It was about a story that started small and could have been small, until someone stole their newspapers. First, they had a story that had to be told: about a 17-year-old girl who was allegedly raped in the police chief’s home by multiple teens including his stepson. I won’t go into details about the story because it’s all online here: https://www.ouraynews.com/2024/01/17/girl-rapes-occurred-chiefs-house/ and an interesting twist to the story is here: https://ouraynews.com/2024/01/20/ridgway-man-cited-newspaper-theft-case/
So, WHY did the newspaper publish this very detailed story about this case? According to the email sent out to the subscribers, the Ouray County Plaindealer published it “because it’s important for the community to understand the severity of the allegations of this crime.” And I couldn’t agree more. A public safety concern exists and this must be reported to protect the residents of the community.
Why does this matter to us, as a newspaper in Gilpin and Boulder Counties? It’s important because we also have to report news that includes safety concerns in our region.
As well, with the continued reporting on the Ouray County Plaindealer, we see responses from the person who stole their newspapers. We see the citizen respond as to why he stole the papers and what he thought he would accomplish. Then farther in we see the newspaper response that there was in fact a grudge by that citizen against the newspaper before the story was released. This is common in the news business, and I applaud the Ouray County Plaindealer for bringing this to light, explaining why this is a larger news story at this time.
A few months ago, we covered a story we see at least twice a month. It was a government meeting. At that meeting there were some words shared about a specific situation. As usual, we included it in the meeting report.
One of the people involved was angry with me (By the way, I don’t write the news). The person was angry that nobody had asked their side of a situation. The person was at the meeting and did not speak up. I explained “Stories of government are published exactly as they happen. This wasn’t a story about you, it was a government meeting.” I told the person they were welcome to write a letter (I said this multiple times). Several messages were sent back and forth and eventually they sent some expletives and I blocked them (from my personal Messenger). I stand behind the publishing of the story as it is what actually happened. I still offer that option of a letter to the editor.
Tuesday, I woke up early again and worked several hours before heading out to the Gilpin BOCC meeting. I sat and listened to all the awesome work our County is doing for us, the residents of Gilpin County. The meeting began at 9 a.m. and processed through over twenty agenda items. I, as a resident, was happy about some of the approvals and disappointed about some of the postponements. I know the commissioners and departments have to go through a LOT of process to get these items prepared, presented, and approved. The five-hour meeting ended with a lot accomplished, a few things sent back for further consideration, and an adjournment to an executive session. Whew, that was a long one.
We, as a publication, will never make everyone happy with any story we publish. We attempt in our publishing to always publish the facts, allowing you, the reader, to interpret those facts as you see fit. Your interpretation will result in you letting us know if we did a great job, a terrible job, or somewhere in between. We appreciate your feedback on what we do and always welcome thoughtful letters to the editor about our coverage (or lack of coverage, if that’s the case). Always feel free to email your comments to info@themountainear.com or submit online here: https://www.themtnear.com/submit-letter-or-guest-opinion/.
As always, The Mountain-Ear is YOUR community source for news. We welcome your thoughtful letters, stories, phone calls, and emails. We cover the news YOU want to read, in the communities you love. Peak to Peak.
