Pecos (Texas) Paper Converts to Weekly

By: Mark Fitzgerald The littlest daily in Texas becomes a weekly tomorrow.

"We published our last paper as daily on Friday," said Pecos (Texas) Enterprise Managing Editor Jon Fulbright in a telephone interview Wednesday morning. "Basically what we're doing is still posting stories daily on the Internet, but as far as the regular paper, it will be printed Wednesday afternoon for (mail) delivery Wednesday evening with a Thursday date."

With a sworn circulation of 1,971, the Enterprise was a tiny paper in a big state. Founded in 1887 and owned by Phil Buckner's Buckner News Alliance, the paper was a daily for the past 34 years. But it was badly buffeted by the hard times that settled in on the Pecos Valley over the past decade, Fulbright said.

First, the sulfur mine was closed, taking with it some of the highest paid jobs in the area. Then an automobile test track moved away. "The killer was in 2001 when McCain Foods ... moved out to Nebraska," Fulbright said. The big food processor ran an onion processing plant that employed 700 -- about 10% of the county's entire workforce. The plant is still open, but is operating at perhaps 15% of its previous capacity, he added.

With the decision to go weekly, the circulation department was essentially closed down, and one reporter was let go. The paper will now be printed by a sister weekly, the Monahans (Texas) News, Fulbright said. The Enterprise Web site has also been changed to a subscription-only basis.