DownEast Times ceases operation

CALAIS – After more than five years, the DownEast Times, a popular weekly, has folded.

The owner blames a drop in advertising sales for shuttering the operation.

Publisher Joyce Scott said the more than 1,000-paper circulation possibly could be reborn should a buyer or partner come forward.

Scott put out the final issue on Monday.

The newspaper, which for years served as a launching pad for high school journalists bound for college and careers in writing, is not alone in feeling the crunch of the economy.

Citing advertising constraints, the Bangor Daily News recently laid off 11 employees. Last year, the Seattle Times laid off about 110 people and the Portland Press Herald cut 15 employees from its staff.

Scott said the decision to close was not easy, but said she could not continue to operate the newspaper on a shoestring budget.

Mayor Vinton Cassidy said Thursday he was sad to see the newspaper go. “I feel so bad,” he said. “I really think it’s a big loss to the area; number one, you’re looking at four and five jobs again. It’s not a lot of jobs, but every one of these four and five jobs help. And Joyce did a wonderful job at the paper. I really hope something will happen that this thing can come back again,” he said.

City Manager Linda Pagels agreed. “It’s definitely going to be missed. It was a paper I always read from front to back,” she said. “It was a very community-spirited newspaper and went far beyond the role of a weekly newspaper.” Pagels said she too was sorry to see the loss of jobs. “Especially around the holidays, it’s a hard time,” she said.

Scott, who worked for the newspaper first as its ad representative and then as its office and billing manager, bought it from the original owners more than five years ago. At the time, several people commented about her “gutsy” move because she did not have a journalism background. Scott is a high school graduate.

As soon as she assumed the hat of publisher, Scott enthusiastically tackled each aspect of the paper from writing to billing to, at times, selling ads. Never one to toot her own horn, she was truly a hands-on publisher. For her, a 40-hour week was something other people did.

Although she put the newspaper to bed for the last time Monday, she said she has no regrets. “It’s been a good run,” she said. “It has been fun, it’s been a lot of hard work, but along the way I’ve met some really nice people. And it’s been rewarding.”

Scott was a familiar face at local meetings and could be seen covering school events around the county. Nor was she afraid to tackle controversial issues, from the construction of a third bridge to the introduction of a liquefied natural gas facility Down East.

And along the way, she said, there have been special moments. Covering school events was particularly rewarding, Scott said. “We have kids in our schools that just do amazing things,” she said. “I’ve done articles on fundraisers where kids have gone out on their own to raise money to buy bulletproof vests for the [police] K-9 unit. I’ve watched the performances that the Calais High School Drama Club put on and they’ve done it on a shoestring. These kids work hard, and they put their heart and soul into it.”

Sitting in her office on Thursday, surrounded by large green plastic bags filled with the newspapers of the past, Scott praised her staff. “I’ve had a small staff, but a very supportive staff,” she said.

But Scott still hangs on to hope. “I still think the potential is there,” she said, for keeping the newspaper alive. And, she said, the door remains open for that individual who has always wanted to operate a hometown newspaper to step forward and add their byline to the front page.