Dusting off old papers
 illuminates issues now


When the Reporter kicked off a celebration of its 50th anniversary in July 2009, we knew we would unearth nuggets of nostalgia and entertaining stories from our earliest issues: The morality tales that played out in the original “Overheard in an Osprey’s Nest” columns; the gutsy editorials of Walter Schumann calling for open meetings and water protection; the detailed write-up of the community-wide Christmas pageant. The list of stories, and the memories they evoke, go on.


But we never expected to find that an isolated house embroiled in political debate today was on the front page of a 1962 Reporter, its photo bearing the label “controversial,” no less. That one and only house on the First Causeway in recent weeks has prompted letters to the editor, a rare joint executive session of the Zoning and Town boards, and somewhat tense work session discussions. 


The Reporter’s original coverage of the causeway construction and its fallout was neither exhaustive nor well-sourced, unbiased journalism. From a photo of a “controversial” house with no explanation of the controversy, to a story that begins “In a move which raised some eyebrows and left some questions unanswered,” the paper’s position on the construction of this house was hard to miss, and the 1960s Islander had to read between the lines to form an independent opinion.


The early Reporter stories were typically written by Mr. Schumann. There were no by-lines, other than Ima Byrd’s, and as both editor and publisher, his was the only name on the paper’s masthead. The facts reported were his own perceptions, as he rarely attributed statements other than direct quotes to any town officials or individuals. No offense to the memory of Mr. Schumann — getting information to readers in a touchy small town was difficult then and still is. He was the town’s only watchdog, and he took that role seriously. 


In expounding on the reasons for dismissing the town building inspector in 1963, Mr. Schumann wrote, “It is known that notable among these was the issuance of a building permit for construction of a house on Ram Island causeway in direct violation of the Zoning Ordinance.” In addition to being a mouthful, that assertion of a code violation would be frowned on today without something on the record to back it up.


How the building permit violated the zoning laws, what authority charged that it did, and, if true, why the permit was not revoked soon after construction began — answers to these questions were wanting. 


The old news stories are interesting but could they be relevant to the current round of town proceedings on the causeway property? That, too, is as yet an unanswered question.