The Tomorrow River Times weekly newspaper will cease to exist.
In a letter to subscribers dated Friday, July 30, Trey Foerster, publisher, said effective with the Thursday, Aug. 5, issue, coverage of the Amherst area will be consolidated in the Iola Herald.
That coverage will continue with a special section within the Herald, starting on the back page and jumping inside, and will include village board and school board news as well as information submitted by Amherst area groups and clubs.
Foerster said the decision to halt production of the Times has been coming the last couple of years because of a declining readership and a small advertising base. Much of the Times was consolidated into the Herald just over a year ago.
A direct-mail campaign for subscriptions failed to generate new subscribers, he said, and the cost of producing and mailing the Times, plus staff and material costs associated with news coverage have outpaced revenues.
Some local businesses have been steadfast in their support of the paper, Foerster said, but without the support of additional businesses, "we find that we must take a step that we have postponed for years.
"We have tried to make the TR Times a viable community newspaper," Foerster said. "When we took over nine years ago, we took a twice monthly and made it into a weekly newspaper. Over the years we tried various things to help it to grow, but dwindling readership coupled with a small retail advertising base eroded the foundation away."