With the closing of the Ness newspaper chain in northeastern North Dakota, seven weeklies died a tragic death on August 4 when, after 100 years of publishing, the owners had no offers to buy the papers.

Communities losing papers included Fordville, Hatton, Pembina, Edmore/Adams, McVille, Michigan and Larimore.

Because no-one offered to buy any of the papers, other weeklies in the state are being forewarned that they have investments that may not be redeemed in the market. 

The fate of these seven papers was predictable. With the decimation of the rural farms and communities, there are fewer people to buy subscriptions. 

The demise of main streets across the state means that there is no longer local advertising for weeklies. The cost of paper and other supplies have risen.

The shortage of employment opportunities locally has driven the work force into the larger communities, meaning that loyalties shift and the meaning of “home town” fractures.

Newspapers help bind communities together. With their loss, the sense of community declines. 

Even small newspapers in small communities contribute to a binding sense of identity.

Over the last couple of years as the weekly newspaper problem has become a crisis. I have offered various suggestions for coping with the deteriorating situation. 

So far, I have the suggestion for a private-public partnership of city governments and of newspapers. This shocked some editors who majored with me in journalism and were trained to keep the newspaper independent from city or county politics.

Then there was the idea for cities to buy subscriptions for all of the former residents who have left the area. That didn’t fly anywhere either.

Next, I appealed to mayors in newspapers towns to rally all available resources to keep the paper printing every week. I don’t think the mayors wanted this extra duty. At least, I never heard of a response.

Well, I would like to try another one with great reluctance because I know that the high school faculty already have more than they can handle. Every time the legislature meets, it mandates curricula changes that are meaningless but burdensome.

In the last session, it ordered schools not to teach African-American history. This was not intended to relieve the workload but force social studies teachers to tread carefully or go to jail.

While it may require a shift in objectives, juniors and seniors in high school would benefit greatly from the experience of publishing a weekly news sheet consisting of community news gathered and published by students.

Don’t laugh. At age 15, I was the community reporter for county newspapers. I learned to find sources, conduct interviews and write rationally. It was a broadening experience.

(After asking students to write papers in UND classes, I was shocked to find that half of them couldn’t write a complete sentence. And there was no correlation of school size with writing proficiency.)

There is no turning back on the slow decline of communities. Social, economic and political forces will keep pulling communities apart. Nevertheless, I grew up in a town with community spirit, and I still think we should stall the decline as much as we can.

Lloyd Omdahl is a former lieutenant governor of North Dakota and former political science professor at the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks.