Skagit Publishing to print Stanwood newspaper

Jun 03, 2009 (Skagit Valley Herald - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- VRNN | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Long-time Stanwood/Camano News Publisher and Editor Dave Pinkham said this week that he is retiring and will entrust his weekly newspaper to Mount Vernon-based Skagit Publishing.

The Mount Vernon company, which also publishes the Skagit Valley Herald and several weekly newspapers, will print and manage the Stanwood/Camano News, Skagit Valley Herald Publisher Stedem Wood said in an interview Tuesday.

Ownership of the News will remain largely in the hands of Pinkham through newly formed Stanwood Camano Publishing, LLC. But Pinkham said he will be a silent partner in the LLC and will no longer oversee day-to-day operations at the paper.

Wood said the weekly paper's headquarters will remain in Stanwood and, for at least the immediate future, will continue to be delivered by mail and won't look that different to readers -- except for a smaller page size, which will match that of the Skagit Valley Herald.

Pinkham, who spoke by phone after clearing out his office Tuesday, is 62 years old. He bought the News in 1985.

"I guess I just reached the point where I felt that my energy wasn't what it used to be, and I just kind of wanted to be 100 percent or not at all," Pinkham, who lives in Stanwood, said of his decision to retire.

Pinkham said the News was only about a dozen pages long when he bought it almost 24 years ago and that Stanwood did not even have stoplights. Now the paper is more than twice that size, and the community has grown proportionately, he said.

Wood said the News will be printed in Mount Vernon in the coming weeks and that the Stanwood paper's own press -- which also prints the independently owned La Conner Weekly News -- will cease printing.

The agreement between Skagit Publishing and the News comes as newspapers across the country look for added efficiencies in staffing and printing costs amid declining ad revenue.

Skagit Publishing began printing the Skagit Valley Herald and its other publications at a new 59,000-square-foot, $13 million headquarters on a DGM press capable of 40,000 impressions per hour earlier this year.

Wood said printing the News -- and separate plans to begin printing The Bellingham Herald by the end of July -- will help his company get the most out of its equipment.

Pinkham said the merger of printing operations will result in 10 layoffs from the News' staff of 32, all on the press side. Two of the 10 positions are full-time, he said, and the rest half-time or less.

Wood said added runs on the Skagit Publishing press could, however, require a larger press staff.

"I think there is a great chance for their community and ours to keep the tradition of newspapers alive and well by working together," he said. "In this day and age, we have to find these kind of opportunities."

Elliott Wilson can be reached at 360-416-2147 or at ewilson@skagitpublishing.com.

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