Writers on the Range The opinion service to publications all over the West began with foundation help in Montana in 1994, but the two founders, Karl Hess and John Baden, threw up their hands after four years and offered it to High Country News, in 1998 — for free. The paper, then led by Ed and Betsy Marston, thought twice about adding something new that would require money and person-power to restart. Dave Marston But HCN contributor John McBride contributed $34,000 to give the opinion service liftoff, and staffer Paul Larmer, who would go on to become executive director at HCN, was picked in 1998 to cultivate grassroots Westerners to write about Western issues.