Friday, August 2, 2019 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com • A5
EO Media Group acquires Bend Bulletin
By PHIL WRIGHT
EO Media Group
The auction lasted 15
minutes Monday and ended
with EO Media Group buy-
ing the Bend Bulletin.
The $3.65 million win-
ning bid also covered the
price for the Bulletin’s sis-
ter weekly, the Redmond
Spokesman.
EO Media Group beat
two out-of-state compet-
itors, Adams Publishing
Group out of Greeneville,
Tennessee, and Rhode
Island Suburban Newspa-
pers Inc., which did not send
a representative to the auc-
tion in Portland but made
almost $68,000 on the sale.
Heidi Wright, EO Media
Group’s chief operating offi -
cer, said the company appre-
ciates the opportunity to
continue Oregon ownership
of The Bulletin and Red-
mond Spokesman.
“It’s reassuring for the
future of community news-
papers when a small inde-
pendent company like EO
Media Group can prevail,
even when going up against
the big companies that are
buying up newspapers non-
stop around the country,”
she said.
Western
Communica-
tions, the Bulletin’s parent
company, fi led for Chap-
ter 11 bankruptcy protec-
tion in January and is selling
all of its assets. EO Media
Group bought two of those
assets in June at auction —
The Observer in La Grande
and the Baker City Herald.
The Bulletin and Spokes-
man acquisitions bring the
company’s total number of
newspapers and journals to
14, including the Seaside
Signal.
Wright explained why the
purchases make sense for
the family-owned business.
“First, the vibrant econ-
omy of Central Oregon,
coupled with a fresh start for
The Bulletin and Redmond
Spokesman, bodes well for
the future of these newspa-
pers,” she said. “Second,
we believe readers in Cen-
tral Oregon will support our
mission of producing con-
tent that is relevant, credible
and refl ective of the commu-
nities we serve.”
Kathryn B. Brown, vice
president of EO Media
Group, credited Bend locals
for support.
“We appreciate the assis-
tance of so many in the Bend
community who encouraged
us to consider the acquisi-
tion of The Bulletin and the
Redmond Spokesman, and
who were willing to support
us in our efforts,” she said.
“It quickly became clear to
our board that these newspa-
pers are an excellent invest-
ment for our company, and
are a good fi t with our oper-
ations throughout Oregon.”
Bend Mayor Sally Rus-
sell, in a letter, expressed
her personal support for EO
Media Group to prevail.
“Balanced, factual, local
reporting is invaluable for
the healthy community I
am committed to helping
grow and thrive,” she said.
“I believe that among the
bidders that have identifi ed,
EOMG is the only one that
offers the local perspective
I feel is so critical. Our city
would not be well-served
by having our local, daily
Bend Bulletin
The Bend Bulletin
Communications.
and
headquarters
of
Western
‘IT’S REASSURING FOR THE FUTURE
OF COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS
WHEN A SMALL INDEPENDENT
COMPANY LIKE EO MEDIA GROUP
CAN PREVAIL, EVEN WHEN GOING
UP AGAINST THE BIG COMPANIES
THAT ARE BUYING UP NEWSPAPERS
NONSTOP AROUND THE COUNTRY.’
Heidi Wright, EO Media Group’s chief operating offi cer
newspaper controlled by
absentee managers of huge
conglomerates whose only
commitment to our city is
fi nancial.”
Some Bend supporters
provided fi nancial backing,
including The Bend Founda-
tion. Trustee Mike Hollern,
said the nonprofi t views this
as a worthy investment in a
company with a long history
in Oregon delivering valu-
able news.
“That’s a really important
part of the whole American
dream to have an unbiased
local press,” he said.
He said he could not
speak for other investors,
but the Bend Foundation
does not have an editorial
stake in this action.
Steve Forrester, EO
Media Group president and
CEO, said the purchase
marks more than the begin-
ning of a new publishing
venture.
“For our family owner-
ship, acquisition of the Bend
Bulletin also carries emo-
tional and historical mean-
ing,” he said. “The friend-
ship between the Chandler
family and the Forrest-
er-Bedford-Brown
fami-
lies goes back more than 50
years. Our essential chal-
lenge is to bring new life
to Bend’s storied daily
newspaper.”
Adams owns more than
a hundred small dailies,
weeklies and shoppers,
including the Herald &
News in Klamath Falls and
the Lake County Examiner
in Lakeview.
Emily Cureton, with
Oregon Public Broadcast-
ing, reported Rhode Island
Suburban Newspapers Inc.,
or RISN, owns newspapers
in Rhode Island, Arizona
and California, and doz-
ens of the businesses use
the same address on regula-
tory paperwork — an offi ce
suite in a strip mall in rural
Illinois.
Corporate fi lings show
the humble offi ce space is
connected to Horizon Pub-
lications, a subsidiary of
bankrupt
conglomerate
Hollinger Inc., once one of
the largest media compa-
nies in the world. Hollinger
became infamous in the
mid-2000s for the scale and
scope of theft committed by
its executives, according to
Oregon Public Broadcast-
ing. An investigation on
behalf of shareholders and
submitted to the U.S. Secu-
rities and Exchange Com-
mission found Hollinger
executives siphoned more
than $400 million from
their companies, largely by
collecting fees on bogus
noncompete contracts.
That led to fraud convic-
tions in 2007 for Hollinger
leaders Conrad Black and
F. David Radler. A key
Hollinger executive impli-
cated in some of the trans-
actions, Roland McBride, is
the vice president of RISN.
According to court doc-
uments, RISN negotiated
a $67,500 “break-up fee”
with Western Communi-
cations to induce RISN to
summit a bid within a cer-
tain time frame, and RISN
as the fi rst bidder “acted as
a catalyst or ‘stalking horse’
to attract higher and better
offers” for the Bend news-
paper and thus deserves
payment for maximizing
the sale. The sale proceeds
will cover the cost of the
fee.
The bidding started with
the EO Media Group’s $2.5
million. Wright helmed the
company’s bidding against
Mark Adams, president and
CEO of Adams Publishing.
RISN sent no one to the
auction.
Brown said most of the
bids went up in $50,000
increments, and at $3.65
million Adams was out
and told the EO team con-
gratulations. U.S. Bank-
ruptcy Court Judge Trish
Brown approved the sale
during a hearing following
the auction. She also gave
until Aug. 12 for unsecured
creditors to oppose RISN’s
break-up fee. If no one
comes forward, the com-
pany collects the money.
The purchase includes
the printing press and
equipment in Bend but not
the building or property.
Kathryn Brown said EO
Media would lease the site
for the time being and look
for new space. She also said
EO Media will look at how
to fold the Central Oregon
papers into the organization
and soon will reach out to
the employees at the Bulle-
tin and Spokesman.
Kathryn Brown said they
aim to close the deal by the
end of August.
Seaside: a resort and tourism destination from the start
N
ow that summer has abso-
lutely settled — the streets
just shy of too full to be
useful, sand piling up in all cor-
ners of our cars, and something
of a tan building into the skin —
it’s high time for Seaside resi-
dents (yes, you read that right)
to stop by the Visitors Bureau to
enrich the “staycation” that is our
lives during off-work and week-
end moments in the busy tourism
months.
And why not? Thanks to Pam
Fleming and company at Nature’s
Helper landscaping, the grounds
here at 101 and Broadway have
never looked better. Over the
last few months, I’ve watched
the fl owers bloom and the green-
ery thrive in equal measure as
the number of daily visitors has
picked up. I’m sure most of them
don’t even realize the pillars, the
tower, and the trim of the Visi-
tors Bureau and Chamber build-
ing were repainted this month and
DIRECTOR’S
CHAIR
JOSHUA
HEINEMAN
a new stone walking path installed
through the hedge to the over-
sized Adirondack chair. They only
see the loveliness of it all, as they
should.
Come in and pick up a copy of
our newest handout for a self-di-
rected walking tour of Seaside’s
pocket gardens. There are eight
stops highlighted along the way
from the Visitors Bureau to the
Seaview Garden at the Turn-
around, including spots by Beach
Books, Dooger’s, Pig ‘N Pan-
cake, and Phillips Candies. Each
stop a unique collection of beau-
tiful plants and plays-on-words
from the mind of Fleming, who
has designed and maintained these
in-between spaces for 25 years
now.
If you were a fan of last year’s
illustrated Travel Oregon cam-
paign with giant bunnies and sky
ships, you’ll be equally pleased
with the refresh this summer fea-
turing walking clouds and a sen-
tient Proposal Rock. We’ve got a
new stock of posters, postcards,
and stickers for you and your
drop-in visitors this season.
You know what else? We’ve
got a collection of information
on destinations across the entire
state of Oregon. Planning a trip
to Bend? We’ve got you covered.
Looking to hit up some parks this
summer? There’s a guide for that.
Headed elsewhere on the Oregon
Coast? NOT ALLOWED. Just
kidding, we stock lots of informa-
tion on coastal goodies to explore
from Astoria all the way down to
Brookings.
Might also be a good time to
take stock of what you have here.
Seaside is truly an authentic
destination through and through.
Unlike most cities in the West,
there never was a timber-depen-
dent or fi sheries-based economy
in Seaside. We’ve been a resort
and tourism destination from the
start.
I was looking at archival
images from the Oregon Histor-
ical Society recently and found
some of Seaside at the turn of the
last century, some 120 years ago.
There were teens splashing and
jumping in the waterline, parents
walking hand-in-hand with lit-
tle children on the beach, people
napping on blankets under wind
breaks, postcards and trinkets for
sale, hot dogs, candy, and even
sand sculptures. Essentially, it was
Seaside. Completely recognizable.
The reach is further than you
might imagine. I was in Boise
over the Fourth of July holiday
for a family reunion on my wife’s
side of the family. I couldn’t
believe how many people from
this far-fl ung group had been to
Seaside in their lives and how
their memorable stories came
fl owing out as soon as I men-
tioned my work here.
Last year at this time, too, we
were telling our then-neighbors in
Portland that we were moving out
to the North Coast and, again, I
was overwhelmed with stories of
families having come out to Sea-
side every year, for generations
in some cases. It was profoundly
moving.
And we can all be proud to be
part of that long string from the
past and to carry these experi-
ences forward. A visit to the Vis-
itors Bureau is an easy way to
remind yourself how lucky we are
to live amongst such beauty and
tradition.
Got a tourism-related comment
or question? I’d love to hear from
you. Write me at jheineman@city-
ofseaside.us.
Cooking tuna, telescopes to the stars and much more at library
A
ugust at the Seaside Pub-
lic Library is going to be
chock full of activities and
events to keep you busy and enter-
tained with summer fun at the
library.
We are planning a stargazing
party for all ages at 9 p.m on Fri-
day, Aug. 2, in the library park-
ing lot to tie in with our summer
reading theme, “A Universe of
Stories.”
Bring your telescope or share
one of ours. After the event,
come back and check out our full
size table top telescope from the
library to view the night sky at
home. It even comes in its own
carrying bag. We have lots of
other unique items to check out
from the library including cul-
tural passes, Wi-Fi hot spots, bike
locks, kindles, and electricity kill-
a-watt monitoring kits.
Summer reading is in full
swing with over 200 kids and over
50 teens signed up and participat-
ing at the library. Kids, teens, and
adults can turn in reading logs all
month through Aug. 31. Turn in
summer reading logs to get a prize
and celebrate achieving your read-
ing goals. For kids and teens, turn-
ing in reading logs gets your name
in the countywide grand prize
drawing. Grand prizes include
book baskets, LEGOS, stomp
rockets, wireless speakers, instant
cameras, and for teens, a chance
to win a $100 cash prize for read-
ing all summer long, sponsored by
TLC, a division of Fibre Federal
BETWEEN
THE COVERS
ESTHER
MOBERG
Credit Union.
Teens will have one last sum-
mer reading event on Tuesday,
Aug. 6, with giant games, music,
and an ice cream summer reading
wrap party.
Preschool Storytime continues
all month with weekly Wednes-
day, 10 a.m. bilingual storytimes
in English and Spanish. We will
also be hosting a wind science
bilingual family program. The
Leap Into Science program Engi-
neered by the Franklin Institute
will be on Tuesday, Aug. 13 from
2 to 4 p.m..
For adults, Saturday on August
10 there will be a documentary
fi lm festival with Ron Walker, at 1
p,m. The monthly adult trivia tour-
nament will be held on Wednes-
day, Aug. 14, at 6 p.m. We are
bringing back two favorites: an
evening of classical guitar with
local guitarist Wes Wahrmund on
Thursday, Aug. 22, at 7 p.m. We
will also be hosting another favor-
ite, antique jewelry appraisal with
certifi ed gemologist Danuta Hack-
ett on Saturday, Aug. 24, at 1 p.m.
Finally, if you want to learn
more about cooking tuna, sign
up for our albacore cooking class
with Jennifer Burns Bright on Sat-
urday, Aug. 31, at 1 p.m. Space
Seaside Public Library
Constellation crafts at summer
reading event.
Seaside Library
For their Pacifi ca Project, teens Emma Ruff and Friday Meyer developed all
this year’s library summer reading kids and teen programs plus the family
star party and one Storytime puppet show. Picture shows prepping a fruit
rocket for teen space food program.
is limited for cooking classes so
we do require signing up either
by calling or stopping by the front
desk of the library. All events are
held at the library during library
open hours.
Our ‘Love Your Library” cel-
ebration week this year will be
held on Sept. 10 through Sept. 15.
This is a great week to come in
to the library and join us in rec-
ognizing all the ways you use
and love your public library. We
will have give aways and special
events all focused on the Library
and the Friends of the Library this
year. Please also save the dates
for when The Friends of the Sea-
side Library are having a fall book
sale. Sept. 10 through Sept. 15 the
book sale will be held all week
long during the library’s open
hours. Look for the sale in the
main area of the library.