Sierra Madre : News Gets Loan to Continue

The publisher of the Sierra Madre News, a community weekly struggling with debts due in part to its fight against an age-discrimination lawsuit by a former employee, said a loan from a local resident will allow it to continue publishing for at least two months.

Jan Reed said a Sierra Madre resident who wishes to remain anonymous has provided her with an interest-free loan. Reed declined to disclose the amount and would describe the lender only as someone she has known for 13 years.

Reed said the loan would help pay back taxes that threaten the newspaper’s future.

She said the $200,000 lawsuit filed two years ago by Councilman George Maurer, an ex-employee, has cost her more than $40,000 in legal expenses and has left her unable to cover the newspaper’s other debts, including the taxes.

Maurer, 70, contends that he was fired in July, 1990 from his job as print shop foreman because of his age. He had worked there 28 years.

Reed, 64, maintains he left by mutual agreement and denies the discrimination charge.

The trial of the lawsuit is scheduled Nov. 15 in Los Angeles Superior Court, she said.

A group of local residents calling themselves the Friends of Sierra Madre News are campaigning to save the 87-year-old newspaper and have established a legal defense fund.