The Local takes new owner

Readers, contributors hope alternative paper stays the same

Steamboat Springs  Owners and co-publishers Paulie Anderson and Scott Glackman have sold The Local - an alternative Steamboat Springs newspaper that is published every two weeks - to Thomas Reuter Jr.

Reuter confirmed the sale Wednesday evening, but Thursday, Reuter, Anderson and Glackman declined any further comment. They said the sale will be announced in the next edition of The Local, which publishes Aug. 28.

Scott Ford, The Local's business counselor and longtime columnist, said he has not spoken to Reuter since the purchase. Ford said he was happy for Anderson and Glackman and curious to see what Reuter's new direction will be.

"I really enjoyed the opportunity to write for them," Ford said. "The Local, in the capacity it has served, has been a service to the community : I'm always surprised at the breadth of the community that's reading it. I don't know if we're all kind of latently hippies or what."

Ford first became involved with The Local as a counselor at Colorado Mountain College's Small Business Resource Center.

"They came into the business incubator when they were still printing their paper via photocopier," Ford recalled.

Ford said he first started writing for The Local as a favor because it suffered from a lack of editorial content. It since has evolved into a labor of love.

He's not alone. Whether they are contributors or readers, people interviewed in Steamboat Springs on Thursday expressed hope that The Local will change little under new ownership.

Erica Thorng, who works at Azteca Taqueria, said her favorite parts of the newspaper are its regular "Props, Gripes and Smidgens" feature and two-page color photo spread of locals.

"I think it's pretty good the way it is," Thorng said.

Tom Shedrick, who reads and also has written for The Local, agrees.

"I like them because they're a little outside the box," Shedrick said. "I'm a little outside the box."

Dave Caddell, who has written music reviews for The Local for four years, said it is a testament to the publication - as well as to Anderson and Glackman - that all of its content comes from volunteer writers whose only compensation is a forum for free, uncensored expression.

"There's a spirit to The Local, and it comes from the writers," Caddell said. "As long as the new publishers realize that's the real value of (The Local), that's not going to change."

Like Ford, Caddell had nothing but praise for Anderson and Glackman and congratulated them on the sale.

"Those guys are rock stars, in my opinion," Caddell said. "I'm so proud to have been involved with these guys. The next thing they move on to is going to be great."

Reuter is a Steamboat Springs High School graduate and the son of Tom Reuter Cars owner Tom Reuter. In 2007, he began circulating a recall petition against 14th Judicial District Attorney Bonnie Roesink, citing systemic errors, bad judgment, poor management and inconsistent prosecution. It was the second recall attempt made against Roesink that year. Both efforts failed.

Ford used to provide career courses and counseling at Steamboat Springs High School when Reuter was a student there, and he remembers Reuter having entrepreneurial talents even then.

"You're always born with the entrepreneurial bent," Ford said. "You just have to find an outlet for it."