

Failure to honor subscriptions could mean the company's "reputation will be irreparably harmed." Without approval of the cash collateral for operations, Costa's declaration said there would be, ".a significant negative impact on worker morale and some employees may not report to work. Wright Tremaine, a Seattle law firm, $223,666.
Fokus bend software#
Solutions of Minneapolis, a media software firm, for $325,014, and Davis Unsecured creditors with claims topping $100,000, including Newscycle Is approximately $1.96 million, with the largest of $945,963 to PageĬooperative, a Pennsylvania newsprint supplier. The total debt listed for the 20 largest unsecured creditors The declaration further noted unpaid real and property taxes totaling $650,000, and an IRS debt of $1.0 million. Another $1.4 million was obligated for prepaid subscriptions at all of its newspapers. Listed as the only secured creditors are Sandton Credit Solutions Master Fund III, LP, of New York and First Interstate Bank of Bend.Ī Bulletin article announcing the filing quoted chairwoman Elizabeth (Betsy) McCool that, "This is the only way we can preserve our creditors' investments and our owners' interests in valuable community assets."Īlso in the declaration, Costa said the company owed as of January 22 approximately $266,000 for wages, salaries and related expenses with no employee owed more than $12,850. In a standard bankruptcy form, Western checked a box acknowledging $10 million to $50, million in debt, against the same range of assets.The company's bankruptcy attorney is Tonkon Torp, LLP, of Portland. Its California papers are the Del Norte Triplicate and Sonora Union Spokesman, 18 miles north of Bend La Grande Observer Baker City Herald and CurryĬoastal Pilot.


Oregon papers included in the bankruptcy are The Redmond Given the dark financial picture unveiled in the filing, as with many companies weighing the reputational damage of bankruptcy Western appears to have delayed action until there was no other choice. The perhaps predictable news came close on the heels of an Oregon Public Broadcasting report only days before that spotlighted Western's unpaid taxes as well as instances of staff furloughs, delayed paychecks and late deposits of employee 401k retirement fund contributions. The exception might be to trumpet the award of a Pulitzer for exceptional journalism.įor Western Communications, parent of The Bulletin, the story broke in its own pages January 22 with the announcement that it had filed again for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the second time in less than eight years. As The Bulletin editor would write a few days later, newspapers don't like to be in the news. But the cause wasn't an internal debate over publication of a controversial investigative series, in the tradition of the Washington Post uncovering Watergate or the Pentagon papers.

No doubt the tension had been building at The Bulletin, Central Oregon's leading -and only- daily newspaper.
