Meet Rick Torgerson

Hi everybody my name is Melissa. I am one of the UC Davis graduate students working on the Up from the UnderStory project. I have been helping with our awesome blog, with event organization, and I have already had tons of fun meeting and working with many of you during my visit to West Point. Every week I look forward to the awesome pictures and meeting new people through the blog. I have had such a great time learning about the Blue Mountain community through the blog and different stories.

Today I want to share with you a little bit about community member Rick Torgerson:



My name is Rick Torgerson. I live in West Point and own a small publishing company that produces two monthly community newspapers, the Upcountry News, circulated in Amador County, and the West Point News, circulated in the Blue Mountain region of Calaveras County. These newspapers do not focus on hard news or late-breaking developments. I leave that to the dailies and weeklies. We focus on the people, places and events of the area in a way that the other newspapers can't.



I bought the West Point News 10 years ago and started the Upcountry News two years later. While these tiny newspapers sustain themselves, there isn't much profit, so it's not sustainable for someone trying to make a living wage. Producing these newspapers takes an enormous amount of time and effort each month and pulls me away from other things I should be doing to produce income for myself, but I have continued publishing them because I feel they are an important communication vehicle for the local communities. I donate volumes of ad space for local community organizations and non-profit groups, which helps them reach out to residents. These newspapers pull the community together in a way that would otherwise not exist.



Today the newspaper industry is collapsing from steeply declining readership and revenue due to the digital age, evolving demographics and changing reader habits. The industry is struggling for survival. There is little hope the newspaper industry as we know it today will survive much longer.



When I look back at the past 10 years, I realize my life would have been a lot easier and I would be in a much better financial position had I not poured so much time, energy and sacrifice into these little publications, but something inside told me this is what I needed to do. When I look back at all the people I've met and community projects I've witnessed along the way, I see how these little newspapers have played a beneficial role in bringing people and projects together, and that makes all the work and sacrifice worthwhile.







Here is a picture of Rail Road Flat residents who organized a clean-up committee





Here is a picture that shows the reaction of Rail Road Flat residents about school closures





Here is a picture of West Point and Wilseyville residents who helped preserve the Rebekah Hall, June 2005