I read Mr. Bennett’s letter on the immediate future of the Herald with ambivalence. It reaches 300,000 readers, yet Durango will no longer have a daily newspaper. The Durango Herald is being printed only four days a week!
In 1960, Durango was becoming a premier community; at least to those of us who lived here. Fort Lewis A&M was becoming a four-year, degree-granting college. District 9-R schools were as good as any in the state. Even soon to be President Kennedy made a trip to Durango.
Central to all of this was Durango’s prestigious daily newspaper. Yes, it was a different time. Twelve-year-old boys, including myself, would ride bikes to the Herald building on the north side of the 1000 block of Main Avenue.
I remember the building always smelled and the sun shined in through the large front window. Now, the sun doesn’t shine into newspaper offices as it did then. We’d shoot rubber bands at each other, bind our newspapers, ride off, deliver the papers and do the same thing each day (except Sundays which was an entirely different story).
Sure, times are different now. Electronic editions reach many more readers. Economics have curtailed the printed edition and killed off the paperboys. Makes sense except isn’t there a part of you, too, that wants to hear that newspaper hit the porch, feel it unfolding just right to that section you want to read first?
David Watkins
Redington Shores, Florida
