Rumors of R-C's impending demise false

If Carson Valley isn't famous for its rumor mill, it ought to be. We try not to report rumors here at The Record-Courier, but sometimes one pops up that has to be explained.

We've heard a couple of times that The Record-Courier is closing after Christmas. Or my favorite, that the offices of The R-C and the Nevada Appeal were closing and both newspapers would be printing at the Tahoe Daily Tribune. We moved those presses out of California for a reason.

That's news to us.

Another newspaper that serves Carson Valley is closing, the Douglas Times, which the Reno Gazette-Journal kicked off about 18 months ago.

The Times was a free tabloid distributed both in newspaper boxes and with the Gazette.

We often had a pretty good idea what their front page would be on Friday and liked to try to scoop them with our Wednesday edition.

But sometimes they got something over on us. That was important because it made us sharper, sometimes more aggressive.

I can say the Douglas Times was responsible for us running the restaurant inspections, and resulted in some stories being moved up.

The Times offices are in Carson City and we assume that its sister publication, the Carson Times, will take over some of its Douglas reporting duties.

There is no joy here in the offices of The Record-Courier over the Douglas Times' demise. We know and have worked with many of the people who worked there. Those who have been laid off may find a home with one of our publications. We wish them all the best.

As to the future of The Record-Courier, we've been in business for 128 years and have no intention of folding our tents now. We've had Courier in the nameplate since 1880, making us one of the oldest continuously operating and consistently named businesses in the state. At 80 years old, our banner is older than most of the state's publications.

We've published through recession and depression, two world wars, and the entire 45-year long Cold War.

But that doesn't make us immune to change. The newspaper has altered its size, periodicity and publication date over the years.

In just the last decade we've watched many of our readers switch from the printed paper to the Internet, and we've tried to be there to greet them.

We are in transition now, still serving those who want their news on ink and paper, while trying to meet the challenges of the electronic media. We know that transition will require some changes in how we do business, but we've survived transitions in the past and there's no reason to think we won't survive this one.

Speaking of returns, Pete and Mary Jane Harding are back from Las Vegas, where they met Fox News' commentator and GOPAC chairman Michael Steele.

Mary Jane says they love him on Fox. The Hardings got caught in the windstorm on Saturday, but managed to make it home on Sunday before snow hit the Vegas Valley.

Steele is making a bid for chairmanship of the Republican National Committee.