The ''Black River Tribune'' was a weekly newspaper founded in 1976 and covered the areas of

Springfield Springfield may refer to: * Springfield (toponym), the place name in general Places and locations Australia * Springfield, New South Wales (Central Coast) * Springfield, New South Wales (Snowy Monaro Regional Council) * Springfield, Queenslan ...

Ludlow Ludlow () is a market town in Shropshire, England. The town is significant in the history of the Welsh Marches and in relation to Wales. It is located south of Shrewsbury and north of Hereford, on the A49 road which bypasses the town. The t ...

Cavendish Cavendish may refer to: People * The House of Cavendish, a British aristocratic family * Margaret Cavendish (1623–1673), British poet, philosopher, and scientist * Cavendish (author) (1831–1899), pen name of Henry Jones, English auth ...

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

Andover Andover may refer to: Places Australia * Andover, Tasmania Canada * Andover Parish, New Brunswick * Perth-Andover, New Brunswick United Kingdom * Andover, Hampshire, England ** RAF Andover, a former Royal Air Force station United States * Ando ...

, and Mount Holly, Vermont. The paper stopped publishing in 2009

History

The ''Black River Tribune'' was co-founded and first edited by William Hunter and Leigh Tofferi. Hunter was a student at

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

who was also serving his second term in the

Vermont Legislature The Vermont General Assembly is the legislative body of the state of Vermont, in the United States. The Legislature is formally known as the "General Assembly," but the style of "Legislature" is commonly used, including by the body itself. The G ...

. Hunter learned that year that he received a

Rhodes Scholarship The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

. Future

Governor of Connecticut The governor of Connecticut is the head of government of Connecticut, and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has a duty to enforce state laws, and the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the Connecticu ...

Ned Lamont Edward Miner Lamont Jr. (born January 3, 1954) is an American businessman and politician serving as the 89th governor of Connecticut. He has served in this position since January 9, 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a Greenwi ...

, a friend of Hunter's, became editor of the paper in 1977, soon after the paper began and ran the paper when Hunter left on his Rhodes Scholarship. Lamont was grandson of

Thomas W. Lamont Thomas William Lamont Jr. (September 30, 1870 – February 2, 1948) was an American banker. Early life Lamont was born in Claverack, New York. His parents were Thomas Lamont, a Methodist minister, and Caroline Deuel Jayne. Since his father was ...

, who was the partner of financier

J.P. Morgan JP may refer to: Arts and media * ''JP'' (album), 2001, by American singer Jesse Powell * ''Jp'' (magazine), an American Jeep magazine * ''Jönköpings-Posten'', a Swedish newspaper * Judas Priest, an English heavy metal band * ''Jurassic Park ...

. Lamont later ran for governor of Connecticut in 2010. The early-days Black River Tribune staff included a number of budding journalists such as

Jane Mayer Jane Meredith Mayer (born 1955) is an American investigative journalist who has been a staff writer for ''The New Yorker'' since 1995. She has written for the publication about money in politics; government prosecution of whistleblowers; the Uni ...

Alex Beam Alex Beam (born Jacob Alexander Beam in 1954)Staff report (July 2000) ''Stanford Magazine'' is an American writer and journalist. He retired as a columnist for ''The Boston Globe'' in 2012, but still contributes to the paper's op-ed page. He ha ...

, and Nelson Graves. Hunter and Tofferi put the paper up for sale in 1981 so that Hunter could attend

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

and Tofferi could focus on being a Vermont legislator. Hunter, serving in the Vermont Legislature in 1986 helped pen a

libel law Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

that would allow someone sued for libel to recoup legal expenses if the suit is deemed as frivolous. The goal, Hunter noted, was to reduce the number of harmful libel suits aimed at small local newspapers. D.J. Ashworth was editor of the paper in the 1980s. Will Hunter was later embroiled in several legal and criminal cases.

John Royston Coleman John Royston "Jack" Coleman (June 24, 1921 – September 6, 2016) was a labor economist, college and foundation president, television host, and author of ''Blue-Collar Journal''. Biography Jack Coleman was born in the town of Copper Cliff, Ontario, ...

ran the paper for a decade. During that time, he presided some of the first gay marriages in the country.

Notable coverage

Early in the paper's history, it received national attention for its reporting on a resident in nearby

Cavendish, Vermont Cavendish is a town in Windsor County, Vermont, United States. The town was likely named after William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire. The population was 1,392 at the 2020 census. The town of Cavendish includes the unincorporated villages of C ...

Alexander Solzhenitsyn Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn. (11 December 1918 – 3 August 2008) was a Russian novelist. One of the most famous Soviet dissidents, Solzhenitsyn was an outspoken critic of communism and helped to raise global awareness of political repress ...

.{{Cite news, url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24804605/for_alexander_solzhenitsyn_even_freedom/, title=For Alexander Solzhenitsyn Even Freedom Has a Chain Link Fence - Newspapers.com, work=Newspapers.com, access-date=2018-10-24, language=en

References

Weekly newspapers published in the United States Newspapers published in Vermont Newspapers established in 1976 Publications disestablished in 2009 Defunct weekly newspapers Defunct newspapers published in Vermont Windsor County, Vermont