CARBONDALE — When this lively Rocky Mountain town lost its weekly newspaper to what its owner blamed on the economy, former town Trustee Russ Criswell said he “missed out on a couple of things.”
“A bunch of us decided we needed a newspaper in our town, just to keep up on the issues,” Criswell said. “So that’s what we did.”
Community activists launched The Sopris Sun less than two months after Colorado Mountain News Media suspended publication of The Valley Journal on Dec. 25.
The Sun’s debut Feb. 12 came as the E.W. Scripps Co. was mulling the future of the nearly 150-year-old Rocky Mountain News in Denver. As losses mounted, the News shut down last week.
Thursday’s edition of The Sopris Sun was the fourth issue of a free weekly started largely by volunteers and run as a nonprofit organization. Issues are typically 16 pages, in color, with a run of 3,000 copies.
