July 4 marked the 12th anniversary of my assuming ownership of the Methow Valley News — or, as many of you have heard me describe it, my own Independence Day.
There were a lot of reasons for that, personal and professional, and I’ve told the story a few times. Life-wise I was not in a good place in 2010, when previous owner Paul Butler and I first began our discussions about me buying the paper. He was ready to sell; I needed something worthwhile and challenging to do. It has certainly been that. As I have been telling people ever since, I’m living the dream — and working the reality.
Twelve years is not that long a tenure in the valley. But a lot of people who have moved here during that time have only known one publisher and editor of the Methow Valley News — me. Before that, Paul had owned the paper for more than a decade, and previous editor John Hanron had held that post for more than a dozen years. In the newspaper business, that counts as stability.
I think it has made a difference. I certainly hope so.
We’ve been through a lot together in the past 12 years: Fires, mudslides, road closures, life-threatening smoke, growth-related debates, changes in local leadership, recurring issues that just seem to have a perpetual life of their own. The big fires changed life in the valley forever, and COVID rocked the economy, cratered our social lives and hobbled government at every level. We’ve diligently followed the shifting news scene as best we could with the resources we had, and with the community’s support.
A lot has changed at the News over that time. We moved from what is now the 1908 barbecue restaurant site on Glover Street to the TwispWorks campus (although some of you have yet to figure that out, it seems). We’ve gone through personnel changes and reductions, adjusting to needs and circumstances. A few folks who were working for or contributing to the paper in 2011 are still with us today: reporter Marcy Stamper, retired reporter and frequent freelance contributor Ann McCreary, columnist Ashley Lodato, cartoonist Erik Brooks, columnist Joanna Bastian, columnist David Ward and columnist Solveig Torvik. That kind of continuity is important to readers, and a comfort to me. Along the way, a lot of other people have made contributions — photographers, columnists, freelancers, staffers — that were invaluable, and always appreciated. And a few we remember fondly have passed away.
Looking back and thinking about what I would most like people to hear, what comes to mind is “thank you” — to all the above-noted contributors, to our loyal and helpful readers (we appreciate your tips, ideas and corrections), to our advertisers and to our sources in local governments, nonprofit organizations and businesses who give our stories credibility.
I need to add a special note of gratitude to the amazingly generous people who have at one time or another during our various crises — the two times I (and everyone else associated with the paper) suffered through long hospital stays, the financial beating we took during COVID, and a few other rough patches — simply sent checks to help us out. Some were substantial. We didn’t ask, they simply offered. I can’t express how much that means, especially now as the newspaper has achieved a measure of financial stability that is in stark contrast to the days we were bouncing checks and piling up debts.
Before and during the past 12 years, no one has meant as much as my beautiful, brilliant partner Jacqui, who is actually the best journalist in the household and still a mentor, as well as the constant voice of practicality in my ear and the person who has — with a combination of patience, exasperation and cheeky humor — endured the disruption in our lives that my quixotic pursuit of this dream has caused.
In 600-plus columns over 12 years, I’m bound to be repetitive, but for my own benefit as much as anything else, I’ll again explain the moniker for this column. Before I moved here, a friend asked why I raved about the Methow Valley. My spontaneous reply: “Because I’ve never had a bad day there.” Through everything, when I consider what being here has meant, that remains true.
