Former Rathdrum Star Publisher Dies

Tom Burnett, a veteran journalist, is shown with the small weekly he started to serve the northern communities of Kootenai County, Rathdrum Star. (Jesse Tinsley SR file photo)

Tom Burnett, who founded the Rathdrum Star weekly newspaper before it closed in December due to his retirement, died at his home on Friday night, acquaintances said. He was 70. Burnett has worked at several newspapers over the past 50 years, including from being a copy boy in Stamford, Conn., to owning the former weekly Post Falls Tribune in the 1980s. The Star was the first paper he started/ Coeur d’Alene Press Online.

Thoughts about Tom’s passing?