Lone Tree Voice 0506

Page 1

May 6, 2021

FREE

DOUGLAS COUNTY, COLORADO

A publication of

LoneTreeVoice.net

INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 10 | LIFE: PAGE 12 | CALENDAR: PAGE 14 | SPORTS: PAGE 16

VOLUME 20 | ISSUE 11

Commissioners delay final decision on chair role BY ELLIOTT WENZLER EWENZLER@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

The acquisition is the first for NTLN, a nascent nonprofit that seeks to leverage national foundation funding to buy and bolster local newspapers threatened by faltering business models and the encroachment of hedge funds and corporate conglomerates. The Colorado Sun, a statewide news outlet founded and run by former Denver Post journalists, will oversee daily operations at Colorado Community Media.

After about a week of tension among the Douglas County commissioners, the three-person board agreed to postpone the realignment of leadership for at least 30 days. The board had planned to publicly censure and formally remove Commissioner Lora Thomas from her position as the board’s chair in an April 27 meeting, but in a work session that morning, they agreed to wait on the decision. Then in a formal business meeting later that day, they formally approved the new resolution. “The public does not care about what we are fighting about,” Commissioner Abe Laydon said in the work session. “They want to see us govern with excellence.” Instead, the board will share the chair position, with each co-chair holding those responsibilities on a rotating, one-week basis. They will maintain that agreement for at least 30 days. The board expressed interest in using that time to find an outside party to mediate the situation. The disagreement between commissioners began when the New York Times requested an interview with the county on April 16, Thomas said in an April 24 radio interview with George Brauchler. The board agreed that Laydon would take the interview instead of Thomas, a move that was out-of-step with their normal agreement to

SEE SOLD, P2

SEE POSTPONE, P15

Ann Healey, former co-owner of Colorado Community Media, speaks during a meeting announcing the sale of the print and digital news company. At right, former publisher and co-owner Jerry Healey and reporter Thelma Grimes listen. PHOTO BY JOHN LEYBA/SPECIAL TO THE COLORADO SUN

‘Tell stories that matter:’ Colorado Community Media sold to news entity Colorado Sun, national foundation to take the reins of two dozen Denver-area newspapers BY DAVID GILBERT DGILBERT@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Colorado Community Media, the company that produces two dozen newspapers around the Denver-

area suburbs — including the Lone Tree Voice — and two shoppers has been acquired by a local and national partnership with the goal of building a sustainable business model for local news, its ownership announced on May 3. Jerry and Ann Healey, the couple who built the company over the past decade, sold the network of papers that now spans eight counties and dozens of communities to a joint partnership between the National Trust for Local News, or NTLN, and The Colorado Sun.

SQUEEZE PLAY ON APPLES

Apple cider lovers enjoy sampling season P12

PREP SPORTS IN ACTION Soccer, field hockey fill the fields P16


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