About

Coverage on Fox21 – Colorado Springs (12/17/25)

Some corrections and clarifications: 2026 will be our 25th year. There are more than 40 volunteers involved with production and distribution of the paper. It is in color and delivered by mail to almost 24,000 mailboxes throughout the area.

How to Get a Copy of the Paper

Check Your Mailbox

We now bulk mail OCN FREE to every residential and business mailbox in the Tri-Lakes area from County Line Road south to Northgate Road and from the mountains east to Highway 83 and in portions of Black Forest. If you live in our free distribution area, shown in yellow below, and are not receiving the paper, please contact us.

Pick Up a Copy

We put stack copies at more than 100 shops and offices throughout the area. They go quickly at many locations; however, you can almost always pick up a copy at Covered Treasures Bookstore on the corner of 2nd and Washington Streets in Downtown Monument. Download a set of maps showing where we leave stack copies of the paper.

If you live outside our free delivery area, we encourage you to get information on subscribing.

Background

This all-volunteer newspaper written by and for Tri-Lakes area residents was launched in June 2001 by a group of Tri-Lakes area residents after concerns arose regarding the coverage of Tri-Lakes area news. Many stories including the proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter project and the Monument Recall were being given biased or scant coverage by the local media. While the local commercial newspaper covered service clubs, etc., it didn’t publish a calendar of upcoming public meetings. Residents only heard about major decisions after the meetings had been held. We concluded there was an urgent need to provide residents the information they need to get involved in the public process of addressing the significant challenges facing the Tri-Lakes area.

Who We Are

OCN is produced entirely by volunteers who contribute their time and talents to help keep residents and business owners in the Tri-Lakes region informed.

March 29, 2014 OCN volunteers. — **Above:** Staff layout meeting, March 29, 2014. OCN volunteers (L to R): Nancy Wilkins, Mike Wicklund, Wayne and RaeJean Claybaugh, Lisa Hatfield, Allen Alchian, James Howald, Jackie Burhans, Harriet Halbig, John Heiser, Chris Pollard, Arjun Gheewala, Janet Sellers, Mark Aggers, Bernard Minetti. Other OCN volunteers not pictured include George and Judy Barnes, Tim Dorman, Zach Dove, Barbara Grace, Elizabeth Hacker, Eric Hamer, Betty Johnson, Bill Kappel, Francy Lingel, Frank Maiolo, Pete Palone, Stacey Paxson, Nancy Riesch, Katherine Wetterer, Woody Woodworth, and the Staff at Covered Treasures Bookstore. Photo by Lisa Hatfield.

**Above:** November 2022 OCN mailing team. Standing left to right: Arlene Fisher-Olsen, Sarah McMullen, Melinda Reichal, John Howe, Michael Weinfeld, Dave Futey, Mike and Kim Valley, Allen Alchian, Jim Hazuka, Carla Lopez. Seated: Bill Davis, Curtis Jack, and Sue Thompson. Other volunteers who helped with that mailing: Lisa Hatfield, Jeanette Breton, Rusty Lorenz, Audrey Burkart, and Steve Pate.

Our Mission

Our mission is to give Tri-Lakes area residents and business owners:

Accurate, objective community-based and area-wide news to help them reach sound conclusions and contribute to a successful future for our area;
A forum for the free exchange of ideas and opportunities that may impact their daily lives; and
Through inexpensive advertising, support local businesses and provide a guide to Tri-Lakes area shopping.

Content of the Paper

Articles in Our Community News focus on the deliberations of Tri-Lakes area governmental bodies such as the Monument Town Council, Palmer Lake Board of Trustees, and many of the local water, sanitation, fire, and school district boards.

Unlike papers that try to figure out what the “story” is and then get quotes on each side to presumably lead the reader to conclude what the “truth” is, OCN’s role is to report in detail on public meetings of local governmental entities. We report what was talked about and what was decided. By reading OCN, you can find out what you might have learned if you had attended those public meetings. In this context, “truth” is that the articles accurately represent what transpired at the meetings.

The content of ads and flyer inserts in OCN is solely the responsibility of the advertisers who place those ads and inserts. The appearance of an ad or insert in OCN does not imply endorsement of the ad or insert’s content or purpose. While OCN does not knowingly run false ads or inserts, we do not research the accuracy of that content. Readers are encouraged to do their own research prior to committing to use the products or services offered. Readers with concerns about the content of an ad or insert should take up those concerns with the advertiser.

What We Ask of You

We urge you take the time to go to public meetings and get the facts first-hand.

Let us help you stay informed

We periodically send out Our Community Newsletter emails with the latest updates on the Tri-Lakes area and this website. Here are links to the latest of those:

View all the past issues of Our Community Newsletter…

Sign-up for Our Community Newsletter emails.

Download the OCN app and keep it handy.

Check out our OCN Updates blog. This covers the latest updates we have made to this website to help you get the information you need.

RSS Feeds: If you have a feed reader installed on your mobile device or computer, OCN offers RSS feeds including OCN Articles, OCN Comments, and OCN Podcasts. These feeds are updated every time a new article, comment, or podcast is posted. Free feed readers are available for all major browsers as extensions or built-in functions.

Learn which jurisdictions apply where you live

Contact us with your questions and suggestions.

You can also post questions and comments on many pages on this website including this page and our Home Page.

View all the comments

Write a Letter to the Editor

This is your community and your voice matters. Read OCN‘s guidelines for letters to the editor. You can make a difference by working to ensure that we hold onto the things we love about living here.

Advertise Your Business

Advertising in OCN is a very cost-effective way to deliver your advertising message to every mailbox in the Tri-Lakes area. Learn more about advertising in OCN.

Support Our Advertisers

Their willingness to advertise in OCN makes free distribution of this newspaper possible. Please tell them you saw their ad in OCN!

Have your event listed in Our Community Calendar

Our Community Calendar Our Community Calendar carries listings for Tri-Lakes events that are sponsored by local governmental entities and not-for-profit organizations. We include events that are open to the general public and are not religious or self-promotional in nature. Complimentary calendar listings are included, when requested, for events advertised in the current issue.

Request listing of your events.

Become an OCN Volunteer

The success of this newspaper depends on its volunteers. If you can spare a little time each month to help a worthwhile effort, we would love to hear from you. Learn how you can become a part of OCN.

Donate to OCN

If you don’t have time right now to volunteer but want to recognize the contribution OCN makes to our community, please consider sending us a donation.

Privacy Policy

Read our privacy policy.

Accessibility Policy

Read our accessibility policy.

Questions?

If you have questions or comments, please contact John Heiser, OCN publisher, 719.488.3455 or P.O. Box 1742, Monument, CO 80132-1742 or use our contact form.

Comments

Rose Johnston says

November 1, 2025 at 5:08 pm

Thank you for the new website and especially for the topic-specific archives.

I have a big ask for improving readability across the website: For normal text, please use a font that is dark enough and thick enough for easy reading.. Because it is both gray and thin, the current font for normal text is incredibly hard to read at a normal 100% size.

The text does become easiser to read when the screen is zoomed. So if it is not feasible to use a more readable font, maybe you could add very evident/persistent zoom-In/zoom-out tools to the web pages.

A reply will be greatly appreciated.

- John Heiser says
  
  November 1, 2025 at 6:21 pm
  
  Hi Rose,
  
  Thank you for your suggestions. We will research what can be done to improve the readability of the site.
  
  Regards, John Heiser, Publisher, OCN
  
  - John Heiser says
    
    November 3, 2025 at 7:07 pm
    
    Hi Rose,
    
    We added an accessibility toolbar on the upper right of the screen. It is a figure with arms and legs outstretched in a dark gray circle. It provides many options to adjust the text and the screen. We also added a dark mode tool, which appears to the left of the accessibility toolbar as a smaller circle that initially is half-gray and half yellow indicates the screen will adjust to the system’s dark mode setting. Clicking on the dark mode tool will switch it to a sun icon meaning light mode. Clicking again will switch it to a moon icon meaning dark mode. Clicking again brings it back to half-and-half.
    
    If the accessibility tools are obstructing something you want to view, you can open the accessibility toolbar and select hide toolbar. Leave the setting at the default of “Only for this session.” and click Hide Toolbar. That will reveal a small dark circle containing a minus sign. If you click on the minus sign, the dark mode tool will be removed and the minus will change to a plus. Click on the plus sign to bring back the accessibility toolbar and the dark mode tool.
    
    At OCN, we are committed to making our digital presence as accessible and inclusive as reasonably possible for all users.
    
    Please let me know if you have any questions.
    
    Regards, John Heiser, Publisher, OCN