The Denver Gazette: There’s an old saying that a newspaper is a town talking to itself.

So what happens to a town, I wonder, that stops talking to itself?

What happens when a town loses its soul?

“A good town helps make a good newspaper, and a good newspaper helps make a good town.”

My dad once wrote that about the Brush News-Tribune, which printed its very last edition ever last week after a grand 139-year run. My dad, mom, granddad and grandma owned and operated that paper for 50 of those 139 years. Its loss is like a death in the family combined with a rip in the universe, one I’m not sure we’ll ever really recover from.

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