Final edition

This edition of The Clarke Courier will be its last until further notice.

The Courier was purchased in August 2008 by Winchester Evening Star Inc., which owns The Winchester Star. It was bought with the hope of saving a failed publication.

The publishing company is the 10th owner of the 1869 weekly.

At this time, economic conditions in Clarke County do not allow the newspaper to continue publishing and serving the citizens of Clarke County.

During these many years of service to the citizens of Clarke, the advertisers and subscribers have been valued and appreciated by the owners. If the advertising potential reaches a viable level in the future, the revival of The Clarke Courier would be a possibility.

Publishing a newspaper, daily, weekly, monthly, is a business. It should be managed as a business. It needs customers. It needs to have a dollar remaining at the end of the day. If not, in our capitalist, free-enterprise system that has been the bedrock of our democratic society, it fails the test of a profitable business.

To function as a business, newspapers have two means to earn revenue: selling space in the newspaper to an advertiser and selling the publication to a buyer. Both are needed to survive.

Those paid in advance subscribers having a balance on their account will be refunded. If a Clarke Courier subscriber wants to transfer his or her credit balance to receive The Winchester Star, this can be accomplished.

The Winchester Star will continue to provide daily news and advertising coverage for the readers in Clarke County.

The Clarke Courier is grateful for the support from its advertisers and subscribers. After 140 years of service to the citizens of Clarke County, The Clarke Courier bids farewell.

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