From The Arizona Daily Star
By ED SEVERSON | The Arizona Daily Star
November 12, 1999
Thanks to a University of Arizona journalism student, Lordsburg, N.M., is a two-newspaper town.
“I don’t quit anything when I put my mind to it,” said Jason Watkins, 21, publisher of The Independent, a 7-month-old, 16-page weekly.
Boasting a population of maybe 3,500, Lordsburg, about 150 miles east of Tucson, sits beside Interstate 10 and the main Union Pacific tracks, more or less in the middle of nowhere. In fact, the highway and tracks are pretty much the reason for the town. Although it no longer has a picture show, Watkins’ hometown does have a bowling alley.
“It’s got one high school, a post office, some fast-food places and a courthouse – that’s about it,” said Watkins. “It reminds me a lot of Willcox.”
Watkins readily admits that the town doesn’t generate much news but, as he sees it, there are more than enough stories to fill the paper. He started the paper because he figured the local cover! age was too thin. The area has more “neat, fun people, who have led amazing lives” than any place he’s ever been, he says.
“We go out and find those people that are interesting and make sure they get recognized.”
Serving a county of about 6,500, The Independent publishes 3,000 copies a week. Cost: 30 cents a copy. The competition – the 112-year-old Lordsburg Liberal – sells for 40 cents.
“We’ve basically reached our (circulation) limit, because everybody’s already reading The Independent,” Watkins said.
The paper has one full-time employee – an editor – and six part-time employees, including Watkins. Every week, he climbs into his Chevy Blazer for the 2 1/2-hour trek to Lordsburg, where he spends Tuesday night and Wednesday morning working on the paper.
“I sell ads, sign paychecks, call people and do stories,” he said.
Work done, he returns to the student grind in Tucson.
For the ambitious Watkins, launching! newspapers isn’t anything new. In 1995, he started The ! Maverick Times, his high school’s first successful student newspaper.
It’s still being published.
Phyllis McDonald, one of Watkins’ high school teachers, credits him with changing her career. She used to teach remedial reading full time. Now she splits her time between remedial reading and journalism. She said other students had approached her about starting a student newspaper, but when they found out how much work it took, they dropped the idea.
“(Watkins) promised he’d have a paper every two weeks, and he hit his deadline,” she said. “He always shoots for the moon, and sometimes he hits it.”
Watkins became a newsman at 14, when he began working as a part-time reporter and photographer at the Lordsburg Liberal.
“Jack Walz, the man I worked for, taught me everything I know about small-town journalism,” he said. “The bug kind of bit me.”
Watkins said that when Walz died this year, “the paper took a nose dive.” Watkins made three offers to buy it. All were turned down. That’s when he decided to start his own competing paper.
“Starting from scratch has been our best asset,” he said. “Basically, we’ve got a big empty canvas, and we can try anything.”
For start-up money, his grandmother co-signed on a $30,000 loan. “She borrowed against her house,” Watkins said. Watkins’ editor, 29-year-old Brenda Collins, also had worked at the Liberal.
“We always knew that he (Watkins) was going to do something more,” she said.
As she sees it, his strong point is coming up with good ideas and seeing them through. In a word: “Gumption.”
For instance, selling ads for a paper that didn’t exist wasn’t easy.
“It took a lot of sitting around and talking to people,” she said. “He’s not afraid to do anything.”
Watkins’ mother, Connie Corbell, does The Independent’s billing.
“I keep my thumb on the checkbook, is what I’m doing,” Corbell said. She also makes a 120-mile round-trip to Deming each week to get the paper printed and hauls back the edition. When her son first told her about his idea of starting a newspaper, she was against it. “It sounded overwhelming,” she said.
However, she knew that trying to talk him out it was a losing battle.
“I know him well enough to know that if he said he’d do it, he’d do it,” she said. “I thought that everyone in town knows him and likes him, so he’ll get the support of the community.”
“There’s nothing like having your mom in your hometown, helping you out,” Watkins said.
Eventually, Watkins wants to own a chain of small newspapers in New Mexico. As for now, he doesn’t expect The Independent to make money for a while.
No matter.
“I’m happy as long as we pay the bills, keep the lights on and keep printing.”
