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Jane Hampden
Washington Island is far from city life in both miles and mindset--"above the tension line," as boosters like to say. Lorel Gordon, an island native who founded the Observer in 1981, launched the paper as an advertising vehicle for local businesses. She wrote articles about island characters and happenings, and the paper grew into a respected news source. Meeting constant deadlines was a lot of work, though, and Gordon sold the newspaper in 1992 to the Toerpes, who owned it for the next 20 years. A new question on the owners' agenda is whether to publish editorials about delicate but pressing island issues. Here, Hampden discusses what happens when a bunch of outsiders with no journalism experience buy an island newspaper.
