The Buffalo Times debuts after Delta Wind shuts down
Delta Junction has a new community newspaper called The Buffalo Times. A group of Delta-area residents launched the weekly last month to fill the void left when the Delta Wind abruptly shut down in July.
The Times editor says the group founded the new newspaper to keep readers informed. That’s why they explained what happened to the Wind in the Times’ first issue.
After 44 years of publication, the Delta Wind’s last issue came out on July 9th. That left area residents without a newspaper to keep up with the goings-on around the community, says Lynelle Buchanan. She kept a stack of the papers on the checkout counter in the farm-supply store she owns and operates.
“At my feed store,” she said, “people come in, and they would pick up the Delta Wind, and they would read it, and go, ‘Oh, great.’ "
But the Delta Wind didn’t inform its readers that it was shutting down. And Buchanan said that left many of them wondering out loud about why that happened, and how they were going to keep up with local news.
'I wish I knew what was going on'
“There was a loss,” she said. “You could hear the community talking about, ‘Man, I sure wish we had information. I wish I knew what was going on.’ ”
A few weeks later, Buchanan concluded the Delta Wind wasn’t coming back. So she began thinking about launching another newspaper. Her friend, Sonya Hartman, came to the same conclusion while managing this year’s Deltana Fair and lacking the help of a newspaper to publish information about all the events.
“So I had to scramble to make little programs to hand out at the front gate of the fair so that people could see the schedule, and the ticket prices, and the events -- what was happening and when it was happening,” she said.
After the fair wrapped up on Aug. 16, Buchanan and Hartman -- who now handles the Times’ graphics and website -- asked a couple of other friends to join the new venture. Both Denise Wilhelm and Michele Trainor had worked for the Wind and they agreed to sign-on: Wilhelm as editor and Trainor as photographer and reporter.
Wilhelm says she agreed to participate because the community deserves a voice.
“It's not just the fun stuff, there's some serious stuff that goes on in town, too,” she said. “And our aim is to present all the facts and allow people to make up their own minds.”
Trainor says newspapers play an essential role in preserving the community’s past by reporting on the present.
“It’s history,” she said. “Newspapers document the history. And I'm talking like birth announcements, funerals, weddings -- events that happen. These are things that are documented, and they will be there for the future.”
Missing chapter: Why the Wind folded
But one chapter of that history had not been documented: why the Delta Wind stopped publishing. Wilhelm says the staff agreed that the Times should answer that question in its first issue that came out on Sept. 9.
“I think part of it was for our community to get closure,” she said. “People wanted to know what happened.”
To answer that question, The Buffalo Times republished, with permission, KUAC’s coverage of criminal proceedings against Michael Paschall, the Delta Wind’s owner and publisher. The Times reported that Paschall had been sentenced on July 9 to two years in prison for stealing about $440,000 from the Rural Deltana Volunteer Fire Department. Paschall was the department’s fire chief.
The Wind didn’t report about the sentencing in its final issue that came out on July 9. Tim Holoday, the Wind’s former advertising manager, said that’s because Paschall had shut down the newspaper.
‘The Delta Wind is done’
“ I was told by Mike the day he was sentenced, ‘You are now officially fired,’ ” Holoday said. “And he said, ‘So go apply for unemployment.’ And he said ‘The Delta Wind is done.' "
Area residents were outraged by Paschall’s crime. And Buchanan, the Times’ advertising manager, says the Wind’s demise added urgency to their plans.
“ So there was this big gap and void in our community,” she said, “which is why it was like, ‘Okay, well, we would like to do something then, 'cause our town needs that.’ ”
Since then, the Times has covered local elections, the beginning of a new school year and construction of a new veterinary clinic, to name a few.
It’s been challenging, because three of the staffers, except Trainor, hold down a day job while juggling the demands of running a newspaper. They formed a non-profit organization and are looking for members of the public to serve on its board of directors. They’re also looking for advertisers, subscribers and donations.
Wilhelm says they’re counting on the community to keep the Times in business.
“If we don't have enough financial support from advertising, from sponsorship, from community support, we'll go away.”
She says after all this effort, it would be a shame if the community’s voice was silenced again.
