It was just last month that this space noted the importance of community newspapers in recognition of National Newspaper Week, an annual event by New England Newspaper and Press Association.

That subject has become relevant in a different way, as a nearby local community newspaper, the Town Times in Watertown, is leaving print. While it will continue online operations at towntimesnews.com posting “submitted” materials (such as press releases, letters, and obituaries) for the “foreseeable future,” according to Executive Editor Kurt Mazurosky in an editorial printed on October 30, its time in print is over. The Town Times’ sister paper, Voices, which covers a number of nearby local towns, will remain in print.

Mazurosky, in that same editorial, part of the Town Times’ last printed issue, noted, “Sadly, following dramatic cost increases in recent years for printing, trucking, postage and other operating expenses, coupled with a steady decline of advertising revenue that pays the bills, providing a free weekly community newspaper to the residents of Watertown and Oakville, Connecticut by mail has become untenable.”

The Town Times was founded in 1947 and was purchased by The Bee Publishing Company in 1989, which upgraded local coverage and provided a publication that was well-received in the community. Until 1992, it was a sister publication of The Newtown Bee, before it was sold by the Smith family, along with The Weekly Star, to Prime Publishers Inc. The Bee Publishing company at the time noted that, “the support for The Weekly Star and the Town Times among advertisers never matched that of the readers.”

The news of the Town Times leaving print was actually broken a week early, when State Representative Joe Polletta, who represents Watertown in the state legislature, posted about it on Facebook.

“The loss of the publication is an indication of a trend seen nationwide,” Polletta wrote. “Local newspapers have thinned in favor of social media platforms. The Town Times gave our town a pulse. It showed the good work our civic organizations do, it gave a highlight to our students/athletes and, perhaps most importantly, it gave a voice to residents/taxpayers to voice their concerns in the letters section.”

The irony of Polletta lamenting about thinning of local newspapers in favor of social media platforms while simultaneously using social media to beat out the Town Times on its one last big story in print is not lost. However, it is what Polletta goes on to note, that Watertown’s community newspaper that was the pulse of its community, and how it highlighted local events and local athletes while also giving a voice to residents, that is the most relevant to us here in Newtown.

Not to toot our own horn, but The Newtown Bee has been the pulse of Newtown for 148 years, and is continuing to be such as one of the last family-owned newspapers still standing. Many others have either closed or been bought out by large corporations like Hearst Media Company. It continues to provide comprehensive coverage of Newtown, its community, its residents, its government, its schools, its youthful athletes — and every thing else — in print every week, as well as online.

Once something as valuable as the Town Times is lost, it is gone. We hope at The Bee to see continuing support from the community we have served for nearly 150 years.

Just last month, we noted that in this space fifty years ago, Bee Publisher Paul S. Smith said, “it seems, in a way, like blowing one’s own horn for a newspaper to remind its readers of its own worth. Yet perhaps it can be pardoned once a year, and National Newspaper Week presents that opportunity.”

It seems to be important to note that again, a month after National Newspaper Week, as we observe a former sister paper leave print after more than 75 years. Our promise to every reader and advertiser of The Bee is still the same one made by Bee Publishing Company Founder John Pearce 148 years ago. We promise the best in local news and advertising.