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FORT COLLINS - Among the 360-or-so days that have passed since the first edition of the Rocky Mountain Bullhorn hit the streets, one stands out in the memories of staffers.
It was the day 20,000 copies of the February edition arrived from the printer minus most of the punctuation. Oh, commas and periods were sprinkled in. But quotation marks and apostrophes - the things that count in making sense of news stories - were nowhere to be found.
"We rounded up about 20 people, literally off the street, and had this big insert party," Bullhorn founder and publisher Joseph Rouse said. "We got this message into each copy, apologizing for the error."
Such is the life of a fledgling newspaper: Year No. 1 has been marked by hits and misses, but mostly hits, as the Bullhorn has carved out an identity for itself in the crowded Northern Colorado publishing scene.
Feisty, colorful, sometimes irreverent but nearly always dead-on serious with its treatment of news topics, the Bullhorn survived its first 12 monthly issues in ways that tell staff members they are in for a much longer haul.
"I'm not going anywhere," said advertising director Kellie Falbo. "I believe in this 100 percent, and I can represent that every day on the streets. I believe in the viability of the Bullhorn for many years to come."
Five-year road
Rouse and co-founder Vanessa Martinez, the Bullhorn; editor-in-chief, planted seeds for the project five years ago when the two met as neighbors....