By: Brandon Tipton
Teresa Hatfield-Barger would like to thank the people of Powell County, the readers and contributors, all the staff of the Times, past and present, who helped bring together the paper over the past several decades. “I could not have done it without you.”
After over 120 years in operation, the Clay City Times is going out of publication. Owner and Publisher, Teresa Hatfield-Barger is retiring. Along with the times, it’s sister paper, the Citizen Voice and Times will also cease operations.
The Times has had a long and storied history. It originated in 1900 in Spout Springs with the venerable J. E. Burgher as its publisher. After a devastating fire consumed the Times building and several other nearby businesses, he relocated to Clay City where the Times has operated ever since.
There was a string of owners after Mr. Burgher, but in 1985 Jerlene Rose purchased the business from the Mount Sterling Advocate. Some years later she sold the business to Guy Hatfield of Irvine. Hatfield was already the owner and publisher of the successful Citizen Voice and Times, but he turned both papers into some of the most popular and successful weekly papers in the state of Kentucky.
When Mr. Hatfield passed away in 2005, his wife Teresa, inherited the paper. Mrs. Hatfield had worked alongside her husband for many years in the newspaper industry. Though she understood that she had some big shoes to fill, she rose to the occasion and took up the reigns. Mrs. Hatfield-Barger has helmed the paper for the past 17 years, including throughout the pandemic and during the catastrophic flood that hit downtown Clay City. Floodwaters even made their way into the Times office.
It is with deep regret that we bid a fond farewell to our neighbors in Clay City and our readers throughout Powell County, Kentucky, and even across the United States. We wish you and yours a Happy New Year, and many more to come.
We could not have been nearly as successful the past few years without help from the community. After all, a newspaper is nothing without it’s readers or without the community which it serves.