Jackalope Publishing Acquires Mile High NewspapersBack to News

GOLDEN, CO, JULY 3, 2006 – William R. Welsh, Chief Operating Officer of New West Newspapers and Scott Perriman, President of Jackalope Publishing announced Friday that they have entered into an agreement for Jackalope to acquire New West’s publishing operations in Colorado. Details of the transaction were not disclosed.

The properties include the Golden Transcript, Arvada Free Press, Wheat Ridge Transcript and Lakewood Sentinel, weekly newspapers serving those communities in Jefferson County, CO. The papers have a combined weekly circulation of 56,000.

Dirks, Van Essen & Murray, a newspaper merger-and-acquisition firm based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, represented New West in the transaction.

“This is a terrific marriage between two great newspaper companies,” Perriman said. “With this arrangement, we will have a combined circulation of more than 100,000 newspapers. Our commitment will be to bring quality community journalism to all of our readers.”

Welsh added, “We are pleased that we were able to accomplish this transaction with an independent publisher that recognizes and values the importance of community journalism. We are confident that Scott will continue to grow and develop the papers and serve their communities well.”

New West is owned by former Iowa newspaper executives Michael G. Gartner and Gary G. Gerlach, along with Welsh. Gartner of Des Moines, IA is the former president of NBC News and was editor of the Des Moines (IA) Register and the Ames (IA) Tribune. He is the principal owner of the Iowa Cubs AAA affiliate in Des Moines and is currently serving as president of the Iowa Board of Regents.

Gerlach, of Incline Village, Nevada, is a former publisher of the Des Moines (IA) Register and the Ames (IA) Tribune. Welsh, of Nebraska City, Nebraska is currently serving as president of the Association of Free Community Papers, the nation’s largest free-paper organization whose members circulate to over 40 million US households each week.

Jackalope Publishing was formed by Perriman and the company’s Chief Financial Officer, Kimberly Carmichael, in order to purchase the assets of Mile High Newspapers. MetroNorth Newspapers and Mile High Newspapers will operate as individual entities, while sharing some advertising and newsgathering resources.