Last day at The Leader | Rocky Mountain PBS

NEWS

LIMON, Colo. — Mary Jane Hoffman, 86, can’t make out the size 11 newsprint of “The Leader.” But for the past eight years, she has arrived every Thursday at dawn to the newspaper’s white clapboard office on Main Street to help her daughter, Catherine Thurston, prepare 800 copies of the paper.

Last Thursday, “The Leader” released its final edition. Publisher Catherine Thurston plans to retire.

“We’re making money, but I can’t find anybody to do the reporting. I can’t find anyone to replace me,” said Thurston.

“The Leader” is one of six newspapers in Colorado’s Eastern Plains that have closed since July. The closure leaves Lincoln County, population 5,600, without a designated news source, according to the Colorado News Mapping Project.

“We have done everything we know,” said Hoffman, whose father-in-law started a string of papers in the region in 1912 that eventually became the “Eastern Colorado Plainsman” and “Limon Leader.”

The Leader’s skeleton crew adds inserts and mailing labels to 800 copies of “The Leader.” Most copies reach subscribers via the US Postal Service. Some subscribers live as far as Nebraska, Arizona and Oregon. Photos: Cormac McCrimmon, Rocky Mountain PBS

When Thurston moved back to her hometown of Limon in 2016 after a career working for the state, she hoped to travel and spend time with her aging mother. But when her brother Charlie Hoffman died suddenly the following year, Thurston found herself raising his children and scrambling to keep his newspaper afloat.

“It started with me pretty much doing everything…Somehow we never missed an issue,”

said Thurston, who had no prior experience in journalism.

She and her mom hoped that if they could keep “The Leader” alive, her niece or nephew might one day take over. But neither of her brother’s children, now in their 20s, are interested in running a newspaper, said Thurston.

“You got to keep an eye on the local governments and the local boards because power corrupts and money corrupts,” said Catherine Thurston, publisher of “The Leader.” Photo: Cormac McCrimmon, Rocky Mountain PBS

“Unfortunately, ‘The Limon Leader’ is another data point in what appears to be a troubling, accelerated trend in newspaper closures, particularly in rural areas in Colorado, and particularly on the eastern plains,” said Corey Hutchins, who oversees the Colorado News Mapping Project and writes about the state’s news ecosystem.

Alison Arnold, who runs Veterans for A Better Community, a nonprofit based in Limon, worries that without a newspaper, community members will have a harder time separating fact from fiction.

“The rumor mill be milling,” said Arnold.

Right now, “there’s a rumor about another foodbank here in town that may or may not have lost their funding. Who knows what the truth is. It’s like a telephone game,” said Arnold. “At least if it was from the newspaper, we know Cat’s done her homework.”

Stephanie Zwick covered sports and local meetings for “The Leader” and oversaw the newspaper's digital presence. Zwick will continue covering Limon sports for a Facebook page and website she’s launching. Photo: Cormac McCrimmon, Rocky Mountain PBS

Local Facebook groups, like Lincoln County Swap Shop, have begun to replace the newspaper as a source for sharing neighborhood information, like upcoming yard sales and announcements, said Limon library director Katie Zipperer. But she said it’s much less common to find updates from town meetings on social media.

“We have a lot of people that like to complain because things change, and they don’t know about it. Now, there’s going to be even less information,” said Zipperer.

Limon resident Michael Kopp, 80, thinks the closure will have the largest effect on seniors, many of whom he said are not on social media.

Catherine Thurston hand delivers the final edition of “The Leader” to Hoffman Drug in Limon. Photo: Cormac McCrimmon, Rocky Mountain PBS

“Study after study shows that when a local news organization disappears from a community, bad things happen. Pollution can go up. Corruption can flourish in towns, and cities and counties when there's nobody watchdogging their government,” said Hutchins. “It hurts civic health and democracy. Fewer people vote; fewer people run for office.”

Stephanie Zwick, a part-time reporter for “The Leader” who covered sports and local affairs, will continue covering select meetings in Limon and Hugo for Ranchlands News, a paper that primarily covers Eastern El Paso County and Elbert County. Zwick is also launching an independent Facebook page and website, Limon Sports Reporter, to continue her sports coverage.

“It’s funny because I’m not all that upset at the prospect of not having to do this anymore,” said Thurston. “I think it’s more about letting people down, people losing their jobs. This entire block is going to be empty. You see businesses closing up in your hometown and you just kind of wonder where things are going.”

“The Leader” office in Limon holds an archive of newspapers dating back to 1914. Most of the historic editions survived a devastating tornado that hit Limon in 1990. Following the paper’s closure, the Limon library will manage the old newspapers. Photo: Cormac McCrimmon, Rocky Mountain PBS

Type of story: News
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