The ''Similkameen News Leader'' was a local and independently owned

weekly newspaper Weekly newspaper is a general-news or Current affairs (news format), current affairs publication that is issued once or twice a week in a wide variety broadsheet, magazine, and electronic publishing, digital formats. Similarly, a biweekly newspap ...

serving the Princeton and Keremeos areas of the

Similkameen Valley Similkameen may refer to: * Similkameen, a former community in British Columbia, Canada * Similkameen City, British Columbia, a former community in British Columbia, Canada * Similkameen Country or Similkameen District, or "the Similkameen", a ...

in Southern

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

since 1997. The paper's focus was on local stories. It closed in July 2016.

The ''News Leader''

The ''Similkameen News Leader'' was established in 1997 by long-time Princeton residents Dawn Johnson and Sharon Johnson (her daughter). The first weekly issue of the ''News Leader'', Volume 1 Number 1, was dated January 6, 1998. W. George Elliott, another long-time Princeton resident, purchased the ''News Leader'' from the Johnsons in 2004, taking over the day-to-day operation on February 1, 2004. He had previously been employed by the Johnsons as the Advertising Sales Manager for the ''News Leader'', beginning in July 2000. Elliott formed his company, Bengel Publishing Inc., in December 2003 in order to purchase the paper from the Johnsons. Dawn Johnson remained on the staff as a part-time reporter for her former employee. Page text.Link text
additional text. The ''News Leader'' began as an upstart newspaper. The first year was hard. Dawn Johnson recalls, "We got two big breaks at the start. The first was the result of the hill above Ken Thomas' property on Tulameen Road. A 50-million-year-old fish fossil was discovered. It was a big fish and all of it was fossilized. It made news. The next big break came a couple of months later when a grapple loader stole the night deposit vault. Out of all of the time I owned the newspaper, the photo of the grapple loader on Bridge Street ranks up there as number one." Owner/Publisher W. George Elliott describes the focus of his weekly newspaper: :"We believe in the importance of keeping our small-town paper focused on the local happenings in our small town, which continues to be our focus." Elliott announced in June 2016 that his paper would soon cease publication. The June 7, 2016 issue carried full coverage of this as well and news that the last issue would be dated July 26, 2016. The 'final eight' issues were branded as Collector's Editions with historic features in each from the past almost twenty years of the Similkameen News Leader. Elliott was named a Paul Harris Fellow by the Princeton (British Columbia) Rotary Club on November 16, 2016 in honour of the contributions he had made to the community with the ''Similkameen News Leader''. After 50 weeks had passed following the closure of the printed version of the News Leader, Elliott brought the brand back to life in social media providing frequent daily updates related to a wildfire in the area. The blaze, known as "10 Km NE of Princeton (K60643)," was discovered July 7, 2017 and grew to 3,300 HA. Local road closures, evacuation alerts and orders followed. The Similkameen News Leader gained a following from the coverage it provided along with The Similkameen Gazette, another online source servicing the region. Elliott was elected to Princeton Town Council as a Councillor on October 20, 2018. He was re-elected to his second four-year term on October 15, 2022. In June 2023, the Princeton Museum & Archives Society started to digitize the entire catalogue of ''Similkameen News Leader'' issues under agreement with former newspaper owner/publisher W. George Elliott. The intent of the project is to provide complete online access to all of the issues currently stored in the archives of the museum. All 948 editions of the ''Similkameen News Leader'' were scanned with the final issue completed on August 16, 2023. The Princeton Museum launched a new website February 1, 2024 which hosts the complete 940+ weekly digitized issues of the ''Similkameen News Leader''.

References

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External links

Similkameen News Leader Facebook Page

''Similkameen News Leader'' website

''George Elliott'' website
Weekly newspapers published in British Columbia Newspapers established in 1997 1997 establishments in British Columbia 2016 disestablishments in British Columbia Publications disestablished in 2016

The ''News Leader''

See also

References

External links