Have a say in future of Weekly News

It’s no secret that La Conner Weekly News Publisher Ken Stern wants to sell his newspaper. Stern is 69. He is ready to retire.

Stern envisions younger, ambitious journalists buying the business, maybe with the community’s help. But if that doesn’t happen soon, the final La Conner Weekly News rolls off the press on Dec. 18.

Finding Ken 2.0 has not been easy.

There are plenty of journalists who can run this newspaper, but none have made an offer on Stern’s asking price to buy a profitable community asset.

There are plenty of La Conner residents who want to see the Weekly News carry on and want to chip in something to make that happen, but there’s been reluctance to commit because people want to know who would succeed Stern.

Enter Andrew Ashmore and Aven Wright-McIntosh. The Shelter Bay residents know Dec. 18 is coming up fast, so they’ve arranged a Save the Weekly News information meeting for 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 25, at the Civic Garden Club, 622 S. Second St.

They invite the community to come and learn how they could secure the newspaper’s future.

“The Weekly News is the heart of our little town,” Wright-McIntosh said. “It wouldn’t be the same without it.”

Stern believes the Weekly News can remain independent if the community takes a financial stake in it. He met with potential investors from the community before Ashmore took up the cause.

Ashmore found a fair number of newspapers owned by their communities across the country.

Conversations on community ownership remain in the “exploratory stages,” he said, “but I’ve ­talked to many people who see the paper’s importance. It’s a matter of pulling things together to quote, ‘save the newspaper.’”

Wright-McIntosh sees her role as the organizer to Ashmore’s analyst.

“When we have a meeting, we need points of action, goals, tasks, who does what,” Wright-McIntosh said. “A lot of people want to help but what does that look like? We need a plan.”