[ams6110]

They presumably have a support agreement for the CMS. They simply need to call up and say "delete all comments prior to this date"

If it's anything like most small town newspapers, there are probably about a dozen people with nothing better to do, who argue and snipe at each other in the comments section of every story, and rarely add any insight or additional newsworthy information. Just deleting them would be the safest way forward and cause no loss of anything really important.