I recently returned from a meeting of the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors (ISWNE) at South Dakota State University in Brookings, S.D. 

Many of the participants had retired from their newspapers. A few were using walkers and wheelchairs. A lot of others, like me, were past retirement age but still working for their papers on a volunteer basis.

But there were also people in their 30s and 40s, people with young families, who had acquired or started community newspapers in the past few years.  

As might be expected, one of the main topics was the future of small-town and  rural newspapers. And the consensus was that we’re going to be around for a long time.

In fact, one ISWNE member, a 38-year-old woman, who was quoted in one of the presentations I’m about to describe, said, “I think we’re in a print renaissance right now.”

The presentation I liked best at the convention was by Dr. Todd Vogts, a journalism professor at a college in Kansas. He selected 28 editors and reporters from the ISWNE rolls. He contacted them and asked if they were willing to do an in-depth interview with him about the future of community journalism. He ended up with 13 subjects, nine men and four women, ranging from 29 to 72 years old. 

The average interview was 81 minutes. When all the interviews were transcribed, they came to more than 50,000 words—nearly as long, Dr. Vogts noted, as “Oliver Twist” by Charles Dickens.

The professor analyzed the transcripts for repeated themes. He came up with two: Successful small-town newspapers need to be centered on the culture of their communities. And they need to be “resilient regardless,” meaning they have to keep publishing no matter what adversities they might face. 

One subject, a 61-year-old man, said “bad print” (i.e. lousy community newspapers) is “dead and dying.” But people will consume content they’re passionate about. 

Another respondent, a 55-year-old man, said, “The local connection is always a thread through everything we do.”

I believe, within the limits of time and space—limits that have been more stringent in the past couple of years—the Sanpete Messenger does help bring  our county together.

We do let people know what’s going on in law and justice, and in local government. We write about how neighbors are helping neighbors, about the accomplishments of our kids, and about community events in the 13 municipalities and huge unincorporated territory that make up Sanpete County.

We’re currently filling out paperwork to become an IRS-recognized nonprofit. Nonprofit newspapers are a trend throughout the country. We believe becoming a 501(c)(3) will open the door to grants and gifts that will help us build even stronger relationships with our communities and the individuals in them. 

Now for the “resilience regardless” part. That theme has had a stark meaning for us over the past 18 months as we’ve struggled to recover from an embezzlement during 2022 and 2023.

I wrote a column about what happened on May 9, 2024. At that time, we put losses at $60,000. Then in September 2024, we discovered what we believe is another  $20,000-$24,000 in unauthorized charges on our company credit card, bring the total to as much as $80,000.

(To give you the picture, in the year prior to the suspect employee taking over as bookkeeper, we charged approximately $4,800 on the card. During the year after the employee took over, the charges came to $41,000.)

While this employee was stealing from us, she wasn’t paying the bills. But because of the generosity of our readers, we were able to quickly clear up about $14,000 in unpaid state payroll taxes.

In December, 2023, I found out our balance with our former printing company was $47,000. The company was about to take us to court. Because of the support of one exceptionally generous reader, we were able to set up an installment agreement with the company. The $47,000 is now down to $18,000.

But the scariest fallout from the thefts was $32,000 in unpaid federal payroll taxes (i.e., taxes and social security deducted from employees’ checks but never sent in to the IRS). 

As soon as we discovered the problem, we filed all payroll tax returns, wrote to the IRS, and spent hours trying to reach someone from the IRS by phone to discuss what we needed to do to rectify the situation. We couldn’t get through to anybody.

Finally, we signed up with a tax settlement firm in California and paid a $4,000 fee. They did painfully little for us. For a good share of the time, they were trying to communicate with a different IRS agent than the one assigned to our account. 

In May, our whole bank account was seized for a loss of about $5,000. The tax settlement company assured us they had made arrangements so it wouldn’t happen again. It did—twice—for about $6,000. 

Finally, we took matters into our own hands. By then, we had connected with our assigned “revenue officer,” a helpful one, based on Ogden. In late July, we got the final total. Including funds already garnished, plus interest, the total is about $46,400. It’s due Monday. 

We will be able to pay it. But I’ll have to roll over funds from my IRA and take out a reverse mortgage on my house.     

There have definitely been times in the past six months when I’ve thought about taking out bankruptcy and closing the paper. But I couldn’t throw out 24 years of hard work trying to create a top-flight local newspaper. 

I believe in the role of community journalism, the role of the Sanpete Messenger, in creating connectedness in Sanpete County. The Messenger has come a long way since its founding in 1893. I think it has a great future. 

With the need to face down the federal tax bill, my staff suggested it might be time for another appeal to our readers. We are enclosing a donation form and envelope in this week’s paper. Your help in getting us over the IRS tax hurdle will go a long way toward putting us on solid footing for the future. Whether you’re able to donate or not, thank you for your subscription or purchase at news stands, and for all you do personally to promote connectedness in Sanpete County.