CHATHAM--Welcome to The Columbia Paper, the website for a new, weekly newspaper of the same name covering Columbia County.

Many of the folks who will write for this publication previously worked on The Independent, which was shut down by its corporate owner, the Journal Register Co., February 6. All of us hope to serve the community with accurate, fair and timely stories and features about this region.

We expect to produce a weekly printed edition of the news you see here and more beginning very soon. But because an actual newspaper is a lot more expensive to produce and distribute than a website, we must first find the money to sustain that part of this project.

We warn you in advance that there will be rough edges. We're only beginning to learn how to use this website, and we don't yet have an office or a business phone. But we are completely committed to providing information to this community, and for whatever it's worth, we promise to do our best to honor that commitment.