Cathy Resmer, a freelance writer and an occasional contributor to OITM, has become the editor and publisher of the Winooski Eagle. The Eagle is a 16-page community paper, published monthly and delivered free to every household in the city.
     Resmer follows Rebecca Padula as editor, whom she credited with keeping the paper alive. The writer and former 'zine publisher said she hopes to enlist Seven Days publisher and editor Pamela Polston as an investor.
     The Winooski Eagle was originated in 1981 by Guy Page, published for a couple of years, then was revived in 1993 by Jodi Harrington (also a lesbian) after a "decade-long hiatus." Former Progressive Representative Steve Hingtgen led a group of volunteers who bought the paper in 2002 and made it a nonprofit "community paper." Resmer plans to run the paper as a for-profit business.
      Two considerations motivated her to take on the project: her mission "to bridge the partisan divide in this country and promote a culture of civility based on mutual respect and affection"; and a statistic that "90 percent of all media content in the world is controlled by six corporations."
     She has read the paper since she and her partner Ann-Elise Johnson moved to Winooski in January of 2003. But she didn't become involved until September, when she found herself free on the night of the Eagle's monthly community meeting. "Dick Galperin [the paper's chairman] had just said, 'Unless somebody walks through that door, this is it, we're finished,'" Resmer explained in an interview. "Then I walked in."
     Resmer left the meeting thinking that she could write an article for the final issue. "But then I thought, 'I don't want this paper to die.' Ninety percent of life is showing up. So I showed up, and now [I want to say] 'Okay Winooski, let's start showing up - not just at meetings, but as a voice.'"
     The Eagle "is independently owned and operated. It's the only paper reporting on Winooski issues," Resmer declared, including "the biggest downtown redevelopment project in the state; the fact that we're one of the most diverse towns in the state per capita. We have students speaking 22 different languages in our schools" among a total student population of about 900. "We have one of the highest ratios per capita of residents under the supervision of the Department of Corrections. Our crime rates are very high," she concluded.
      Asked whether an influx of gays, lesbians, artists, and others who can't afford to live in Burlington might be a step toward gentrification, Resmer said maybe. "We bought our home through the Community Land Trust," she said, including herself in the tide rolling down Colchester Avenue and across the bridge. "Winooski used to be old French-Canadian families, millworkers. They don't live here any more. There used to be 20 kids on my block. Now there are three. More than 60 percent of the housing stock is rental. If you want to call it gentrification, you can. But longtime residents agree there are serious problems."
     Resmer said in response to a question that she might consider including a gay column - as long as it was directed to the wider community. She plans to continue publishing the "Faith Matters" column, penned by a rotating roster of spiritual advisors. She will, she said, be "very careful" about homophobic content in the column.