Cannot obtain lock file, aborting.

It seems like fetchnews isn't running, but neither can I start it.

thufir@mordor:~$ 
thufir@mordor:~$ telnet localhost 119
Trying 127.0.0.1...
Connected to localhost.
Escape character is '^]'.
200 Leafnode NNTP Daemon, version 1.11.10 running at localhost (my fqdn: 
mordor.bounceme.net)
quit
205 Always happy to serve!
Connection closed by foreign host.
thufir@mordor:~$ 
thufir@mordor:~$ telnet mordor.bounceme.net 119
Trying 127.0.1.1...
Connected to mordor.bounceme.net.
Escape character is '^]'.
200 Leafnode NNTP Daemon, version 1.11.10 running at mordor.bounceme.net 
(my fqdn: mordor.bounceme.net)
quit
205 Always happy to serve!
Connection closed by foreign host.
thufir@mordor:~$ 
thufir@mordor:~$ ps -ae | grep fetch
thufir@mordor:~$ 
thufir@mordor:~$ sudo fetchnews
Cannot obtain lock file, aborting.
thufir@mordor:~$ 


/var/log/news/news.* just shows the same error about obtaining the lock 
file.

Should I find this lock file and delete, or delete and then recreate with 
touch, perhaps?


thanks,

Thufir