RIP Bolivar Commercial

Small, 104-year-old paper in Cleveland, Mississippi, announced it is shutting down. Story says the 10 employees there had a combined 222 years at the paper.

Bolivar Commercial to close its doors

 

Despite a couple typos, that's a well-done story with some well thought out comments from the owner and publisher.

Sadly, we'll probably be seeing quite a few stories like this in the next few months.

 

Yeah, for once, a publisher who didn’t say these are “exciting times!”

Hoping for the best for those employees. Sounds like they were really dedicated to their work.

 

Andy Collier did an outstanding job in sports. Sorry to learn this news.

 

Last I saw of it (10-plus years ago), pagination left a lot to be desired but, man, was the paper mega-local. Served Cleveland and surrounding Delta towns well. On two different occasions, another paper sprung up to give them competition and Commercial kicked their butts.

On a different front, I learned only this morning that an owner of one of those competitors is gravely ill with COVID-19. He covers Ole Miss sports for an online outlet. Think it's called 24/7, or something like that.

 

Only in family ownership is the owner willing to cover losses out of his pocket. Remarkable.
I did not know that local car dealers were impacted by the terms of the bailout package as explained in this story.

 

It's such a shame. So much of local history is going to disappear with this.

I'm adopted and I've just been recently researching my birth mother's life, from the early 1970s. I learned so much. Where she went to school. What she majored in and what scholarships she got. Whose wedding she was in. And those obits were priceless. All from little daily papers.