North Palouse publisher decides to take break

Sally Elder, co-founder of the North Palouse Journal nine years ago, announced “with regret and sadness” in the Nov. 26 edition that it would be her last. Elder said she was negotiating to sell the publication and was hopeful the weekly will continue.

Elder earlier announced she was ending publication of Palouse Magazine, a monthly which featured Palouse country history and lore, after 11 years of publication.

She and her late husband, Dan Bothell, published the first edition of the Journal Dec. 7, 2000. The paper served 18 communities in north Whitman County and southeast Spokane County.

They began Palouse Magazine in August of 1998. It was published weekly until March of 2001 when they converted it to a monthly format.

Bothell died in 2007, and Elder has continued to publish the weekly newspaper and monthly magazine since that time. In her final edition, she credited freelance contributors, advertisers and readers with helping her get the newspaper out each week since the loss of her husband.

A WSU graduate in communications, Elder makes her home in her hometown of Garfield. She and Bothell moved to Garfield in 1998 from Snohomish County where both worked for newspapers.

Before moving over to Snohomish County in 1992, Elder worked for the WSU news bureau for eight years.

After they started Palouse Magazine in 1998, they were approached by residents in the Fairfield and Rockford area to launch a newspaper. That led to the launch of the North Palouse Journal in December of 2000.

They maintained an office in Rockford until August of 2006 when they re-located their residence to Garfield because of Bothell’s health problems.

Elder said she is currently taking a break after 11 years of meeting a deadlines for the publications. She added she is also “plowing through 11 years of paperwork.”

Publication of Palouse Magazine for 11 years added an extensive written account to the history of the Palouse Country. The first 11 years of the publication were placed in bound volumes for each year and are still available.