North Forty News under new ownership

LAPORTE – Longtime journalists Doug Conarroe and Dana Coffield have
purchased the North Forty News from publisher Mike and JoAn Bjarko.

Coffield began her newspaper career with the daily Longmont Times-Call.
She was a writer and editor for the Northern Colorado Business Report
and sister publication Boulder County Business Report from 1995 to 1997
before moving on to the Rocky Mountain News and then The Denver Post,
where she is now a metro editor. She will continue in that job while
Conarroe manages the North Forty News on a daily basis.

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“We bought the paper out of a love of the profession and of community
newspapers,” Conarroe told the Business Report Daily. “We’re both
lifelong journalists – I grew up in a journalism family – and it was
just a natural thing.”

Conarroe managed his family’s Louisville Times-Lafayette News for six years, then
became director of publications for Metropolitan State College in
Denver. He worked as a photographer and most recently as
assistant managing editor for online content for the News Tribune in
Tacoma, Wash.

He declined to reveal terms of the purchase.

The couple are both Colorado natives. They live in Lafayette and own
property in Red Feather Lakes. Conarroe said they intend to retain the
current staff of the North Forty News, which covers the northern portion
of Larimer County, and keep the offices in Kintzley Plaza in LaPorte.

“We look forward to continuing the tradition of the North Forty News,”
Conarroe said. “It’s a good product, and we’re excited to continue
serving the readers and advertisers of Larimer County and Northern
Colorado.”

The Bjarkos are moving back to northeastern Montana to take over the
family ranch after 18 years publishing the monthly North Forty News.