MCDONOUGH, Ga. -- Mickie Jackson has owned the Henry County Times for more than seven years. In October, she made the difficult decision to shut it down.

"You feel like you're letting the community down," said Jackson. "You feel like you're letting down your subscribers and readers."

Jackson said the paper has struggled over the past two years, due to a rise in printing prices. The free, weekly paper is paid for solely by advertising sales. Jackson was so torn by the decision to close, she waited until the night the final issue went to print to officially tell her staff they were out of a job.

"Telling them they no longer have a job was the hardest thing I've ever done," said Jackson.

Once readers saw what Jackson had planned, they refused to let their local paper go.

"The very next day friends started calling," said Jackson.

Reader Beau Kelley started a Facebook page and Web site asking for help. His efforts brought in enough donations and new advertisers from across the county to keep the paper in business.

"The stories they cover, I like to think of them as scrapbook moments," said Kelley. "These are things people will cut out of the paper and put into a scrapbook."

The paper only missed one issue before it was back in print, and Jackson said closing again is out of the question.

"I tried to shut down the paper, and the community wouldn't let us," said Jackson.