Community Celebrates LymeLine Relaunch and Olwen Logan’s Legacy
Neighbors gathered at the Old Lyme Inn to honor Logan’s 22 years of service and commemorate the relaunch of LymeLine as a nonprofit community news source.
OLD LYME, CT – More than 100 neighbors, volunteers, contributors and supporters gathered at the Old Lyme Inn last week to celebrate the relaunch of LymeLine and to honor Olwen Logan for making the site a vital community resource.
Logan, who served as publisher, editor and reporter for 22 years, donated the site’s publishing assets to the newly formed nonprofit LymeLine Inc. last fall.
The evening featured live jazz, mingling, and refreshments and introduced the board that will guide the paper’s future as a free, independent source of local news for Lyme and Old Lyme.
All photos by LymeLine contributing photographer James Meehan.
The crowd – including longtime readers, contributors, board members and family members of Olwen Logan – enjoyed the chance to celebrate the continuation of LymeLine, which the late Jack Turner started in 2003 as a modern twist on the small-town newspaper.
Old Lyme Inn co-owner Ken Kitchings, on drums, set the tone for the celebration with his jazz band. The ensemble played throughout the evening as Kitchings and his wife, Chris Kitchings, opened the entire first floor – including the library, bar and banquet space – for the community celebration.
LymeLine Inc. Board of Directors Chairman Bennett J. Bernblum presented Olwen Logan with a plaque honoring her decades of dedication. “Indeed, we have become dependent on LymeLine as our principal source of local news and information, and Olwen herself has been a universally beloved member of our community for many years,” he said.
Investigative journalist and television news correspondent Allan Dodds Frank of Lyme reminded attendees of the need for free, equitable access to reliable information about local government, community events and the people and places that define Lyme and Old Lyme. LymeLine editor Elizabeth Regan read a note from Mariette Brown, the daughter of LymeLine founder Jack Turner. “I just want you all to know my dad would be so happy to know his little start-up is still going strong and a go-to resource for a lot of towns-people,” Brown wrote. “He was a firm believer in impartial reporting, tight writing and the value of the small town rag.”
LymeLine student contributor Charlotte Thuma (left), her mother, Katherine Thuma, and copy editor Madeline Romano celebrated the site’s relaunch. LymeLine’s internship program brings back Logan’s focus on introducing a new generation to journalism.
Christina Gotowka (left), “View From My Porch” columnist Tom Gotowka and Tom Walsh caught up at the event. Columns like Gotowka’s exemplify LymeLine’s mission to encourage diverse perspectives that reflect the past, present and future of the two towns.
George Logan and his wife, Erin Logan, took a momen to pose for the camera with Olwen Logan and Kevin Ganey, who writes the “The Movie Man” column for LymeLine.
Val Chapman (left), Laurie Miller, Alan Poirier and Cheryl Poirier were among those mingling in celebration of LymeLine.LymeLine Inc. Board of Directors members John Mueller, Scott Shoemaker, Roger Nosal, advisory board member Allan Dodds Frank, editor Elizabeth Regan, Bennett J. Bernblum, former publisher/editor Olwen Logan, Mary Jo Nosal and John Kiker gathered to mark the occasion in the Old Lyme Inn library.
Head coach Brady Sheffield put it this way: “We picked the wrong night to have a bad night, and unfortunately that is what happens sometimes in sports …”
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