Alec and the Steamer

Alec O'Meara is plying a familiar beat under a new flag as the editor of a new weekly newspaper called the Gilford Steamer, set to be launched next month. "I'm excited, thrilled and terrified," O'Meara breathed from behind his polished wooden desk at the headquarters of the papers publisher, Salmon Press of Meredith.

Raised in Alton, O'Meara is no stranger to Gilford, which was his dateline for The (Laconia) Citizen from September 2002 until last month. "I know everybody and everybody knows me," he said, adding that he can seldom finish lunch at Patrick's Pub without someone — and usually more than one — stopping to say hello. O'Meara recently discovered that his great, great grandfather, James Ella Bartholomew, was among a group of ministers who in 1893 first settled Jolly Island, where his family owns a camp today. Nor will he be the first member of his family to edit a paper in the region. His mother, Katherine Eaton, once edited The Granite State News in Wolfeboro and later co-owned The Laker, a seasonal paper catering to seasonal residents.

The Steamer, will be a free newspaper of 20 pages mailed directly to the homes of Gilford residents with an initial circulation of 5,000. The first edition is slated for May 6. O'Meara will serve as editor, reporter and photographer as well as manage the reporting of freelance correspondents and material of other contributors.

"The paper will be devoted exclusively to Gilford," O'Meara said. "Despite the weekly format, I think it will be informative and timely," he continued. "I will be able to report stories in more depth on a weekly schedule." The paper will include what O'Meara called "a healthy opinion page." He said he would be "looking for contributions and encouraging letters to the editor. We're not going to close the pages to anyone."

A graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy and New York University, O'Meara interned at Maxim and The Week magazines. On 9/11 he was riding the subway, which passed beneath the World Trade Center, to work. "We were stopped about six stops away and I walked a mile and half back home to Brooklyn," he recalled. He said he began to tire of the "quality of life" in the Big Apple and decided to return home.

"I really enjoy being a community reporter," O'Meara said. "That's why I'm so excited about this job," he explained, confessing that on his first day he arrived an hour before the office opened. "I found I couldn't get in, so I went and ate breakfast," he laughed. "This will be an adventure, to say the least."

The Steamer will be the newest and ninth in a fleet of weekly newspapers published by the Salmon Press — The Meredith News, Record Enterprise (Plymouth), Telegram (Franklin), Granite State News (Wolfeboro), Carroll County Independent (Conway), Coos County Democrat (Lancaster) Courier (Littleton) and Berlin Reporter.