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In April 1957, the Yucca Valley Chamber of Commerce put up $300 to start the first newspaper in Yucca Valley, Morongo Valley and Pioneertown. At that time we were "The Desert Star." Although subscriptions were advertised for $2 per year, the paper was initially distributed free. It was a weekly and was printed at The Desert Sentinel in Desert Hot Springs. Under the supervision of C.H. Jacobs and Joan Wilson, the chamber ran the newspaper until July of that year, when they sold it to the four people — two couples who were all veterans of World War II — who owned the Desert Hot Springs weekly and were printing The Desert Star. It was reported that the chamber netted a profit of a little over $400 on the sale. It was at that time that they discovered there was already a Desert Star newspaper. That was not too uncommon; there are a lot of "Stars," "Times," "Heralds," "Posts," etc., but it turns out this "Desert Star" was located in San Bernardino County, in Needles, and had been there at that time for over 40 years. So, the Hi-Desert Star was born. After two more owners, in 1970 the paper was sold for the last time to our present owners, Brehm Communications. Brehm is a family-owned newspaper company based in San Diego that owns more than 60 publications in California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah and three I states in the Midwest — Iowa, Illinois and Indiana. In the years that Brehm has owned the paper, it has taken the Star to twice-a-week and moved to a larger, expanded facility, our current location. They put in much larger printing presses and equipment to increase our color capacity and quality. Hi-Desert Publishing Co. in Yucca Valley is the printing plant for 12 Brehm newspapers and shoppers. In addition to the Star, Desert Trail and Observation Post (for the Marine Base), we print two papers from Big Bear and Lucerne Valley, two in Arrowhead and Crestline and in the Coachella Valley, the Desert Entertainer and Desert Mobile Home News.