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The Central Point Times shuts down CENTRAL POINT - Hoping to concentrate more on its target audience, The Grants Pass Daily Courier announced Friday that it plans to disband a local weekly publication. According to Daily Courier Publisher Dennis Mack, The Central Point Times - at 20 N. Fourth St. in downtown Central Point - will publish its last issue May 30. Central Point Times General Manager Gene Napier, who has accepted an advertising position at the Daily Courier, said the remaining staff of four employees aren't being offered jobs at the Daily Courier. "It's a shift in our corporate direction," Mack said of the decision. "We now feel that our resources are better applied to our core area." The Courier draws its readership from Josephine County, Rogue River and southern Douglas County, Mack said. Economics didn't play a large part in the decision, he said. "We didn't get rich but we had a lot of fun," Mack added. "It's something we've been actively considering for some time." The Central Point Times originally began in 1985 under the name Central Valley Times. A free weekly publication, The Central Point Times revamped its image in 1999. The newspaper had a reported free circulation of 12,500. The publication concentrated on news coverage in Central Point, Gold Hill, Sams Valley, White City, Jacksonville and Eagle Point. "We tried to give the community its own paper," Napier said. "We tried to provide community news on a local level." Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.