Ramblin' around the corral with Bob Sweeney

The war on COVID-19 continues. My monthly breakfast coffee group is passing on these 7 a.m. Sunday morning gatherings for fear of the virus threat. The business lockdown has eased somewhat. I feel very sorry for the restaurants and bar operators who have had to go through hell to stay open during this crisis. Dining and drinking seem to be a personal choice for both patron and server. Fearful, stay home. Hungry for a meal? Change put on the mask and visit a restaurant. Hat’s off to the culinary folks for staying open and devising efficient take-out order systems, keeping some of the staff working, and is a great public service.

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I’ve been following the sale of McClatchy newspapers, the second-largest newspaper chain in America. Unfortunately, they purchased rival Knight Ridder in 2006, accumulating massive debt and then the 2008 economic crisis arose, and they were never able to recover financially, filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy early in 2020. Last week the newspapers group was auctioned off with two Eastern hedge fund bidders. New Jersey-based Chatham Asset Management bid $312 million and was successful in its bid.

Interestingly, a second bid from another hedge fund, New York Alden Global Capital, owners of The Denver Post, was $100 million less than Chatham.

Alden’s proposal included cutting around 1000 jobs, more than a third of the 2,800 employees listing in the bankruptcy filing. Alden would not commit to preserving current salary and benefits for employees that would have forced Mc- Clatchy to reject its collective bargaining agreements from its unions according to court reports.

This should be of interest to The Denver Post that has undergone major restructuring under Alden Global Capital. Readers may recall the mass exodus of Post staff members as major newsroom cuts were made. The Denver Post owns many Colorado newspapers that include newspapers including Boulder, Longmont, Loveland, Sterling, Ft. Morgan, Canyon City, Burlington, and most recently Greeley.

Alden is a no-nonsense fund that has a business plan that has kept their newspapers publishing successfully in economic troubled times and now the pandemic.

My paper comes every day and some days and overall I find the newspaper important to my connection to Colorado news. The Post still has some talented writers.

This past Sunday’s Denver Post had an excellent front-page feature written by Bruce Finley on The Dickinson ranch in far, far, northwestern Colorado, The story with great photos featured T. Wright Dickinson working with his bulls and livestock. The story is connected with the upcoming statewide ballot Initiative-107 to introduce gray wolves back into Colora-