'Heartbeat of the community': Citizens rally to save small town's newspaper
Bill Reynolds grew up in La Conner, Washington. On Thursday, at 67 years old, it was his first day on the job as a paper boy.
"I used to know everybody who lived on these streets," he said, making his rounds. "Not anymore."
Thursday was the first day of delivery for the , keeping a journalistic tradition that has connected townspeople for more than a century.
"It's kind of the heartbeat of the community," Reynolds said.
His former employer was the La Conner Weekly News, whose owner recently retired, leaving the town without an independent paper for the first time in 146 years.
"You lose that connection if you don't have a community publication," said Reynolds, picking up his bag loaded with papers.
Video below: Journalist has been keeping community informed for four decades
But townspeople wouldn't let the paper go.
They raised $70,000 and worked for two years to find someone to save it.
That person is Kari Mar of Lake Forest Park.
She told a crowd of supporters on Thursday, "This isn't about an outsider coming in to save the paper. This is about a community that banded together because you didn't want to lose it."
Mar comes from a journalism background and saw an opportunity to make a difference at a time when facts and accuracy are critically important.
"The pain of not having a local newspaper was pretty widely felt. There was no place to send an obituary," she said. "The town council didn't have a way to get the word out. Firefighters were having a fundraiser. They couldn't tell anybody about it. The need for the paper was palpable."
What's happening in La Conner is truly something special, as newspapers across the country and Washington are folding at an alarming rate.
Over the past 20 years, more than 3,200 newspapers have vanished nationwide.
Since 2004, Washington state has lost 20% of its local papers.
The situation is so dire that a bill is being considered in Olympia that would tax social media platforms and search engines to help fund the state's struggling newsrooms.
"I think it's true that this couldn't have been done in a lot of communities," said Mar, "but there are very few communities like La Conner."
Thursday morning, exactly 90 days after the Weekly News shut down, newspapers hit the doorsteps of La Conner once again.
And because of that, there was hope for success.
Video below: Humorous' newspaper is a one-woman show in 1996
The La Conner Community News already has more than 900 subscribers in a community of fewer than 1,000 people.
"We have almost everybody," Mar said. "That's pretty good."
By the way, "Paperboy" Bill Reynolds is also a reporter for the publication.
"I've done a lot of things, but this one is new to me," he said with a laugh.
Reynolds has told the stories of La Conner and the neighboring Swinomish tribe, on and off, for 31 years.
He is proud his hometown paper is home once again.
"It's pretty remarkable, the spirit of the people in this community," he said.