At 149 years old, the Berrien County Record of Buchanan is the third oldest newspaper in the state of Michigan and one of the top 10 oldest newspapers in the nation, but it might not live to see it's sesquicentennial celebration year of 150. When Jessica and Randy Hendrixson purchased the venerable old journal last fall, they likely didn't envision having to conduct a 50-day countdown to what could be their demise.
The couple launched their Save the Berrien County Record Newspaper Legacy Campaign at midweek last week with a goal of signing on roughly 2,500 new subscribers by October or face shutting the newspaper down completely. That means they need to sign up at least 50 new subscribers every day until the deadline…something they have fallen far short of thus far. In the first three days of the campaign, they managed to attract 19 total new subscribers.
Ironically, the Hendrixsons place the blame for the impending doom on the good news of the falling foreclosure rate in Berrien County. In launching the save the paper effort they say, "Foreclosures have decreased in Berrien County by over 400-percent. So much so that county treasurer Bret Witkowski had to open a satellite treasury office in the Berrien County Courthouse located in Niles JUST to keep up with property tax payments."
The story continues, "Witkowski noted that the treasury office has made property tax payment arrangements with over 500 properties to keep the properties out of foreclosure. This program, along with many made possible through the Obama administration, financial lenders as well as state and private programs have been the driving force behind the record low numbers of foreclosures in our county in 2016."
Most businesses would find falling foreclosure rates to be a good thing, however, the Berrien County Record publishes 90-percent or more of the county's foreclosure listings monthly and has for more than 20 years. As they write, "State and federal laws require foreclosure listings to be ran in a local newspaper for four consecutive weeks." Essentially, those legal notices have provided more than 95-percent of the total revenue the newspaper has received each year for more than 20 years.
Unless the paper can substantially increase revenues in other areas such as subscriptions and advertising, they will be forced to close the doors in October. That would put 14 local families out of work.
Subscription rates run $40.00 for in county and $45 for out-of-county subscribers. New subscribers can sign on by clicking the link below. The newspaper, first published in 1867, currently has subscribers in 36 states across the nation.
Writing yesterday, Jessica Hendrixson said, "It makes me sad to think, there's a chance, in the fall the BCR will not live to watch our football team run out onto the field, to watch the crowning of the next Miss Buchanan, and that mother's will not be able to clip out the article of their child's play and hang it on their fridge."
She's not giving up without a fight however, as she and family members continue to print and dispatch hundreds of subscription cards and save the newspaper posters around the community. At the very top of the campaign the couple declared, "For out historic hometown newspaper to be 'lost or wasted' would be a shame, and as the owners, we will not go down without a fight."
Here's the link where you can learn more and, perhaps, subscribe:
A recent front page mast-head from the Berrien County Record newspaper of Buchanan
