There's a new editor-in-chief and publisher in town.
Eloise Ham, a journalist and new media producer, has taken the reins from Tom Paine and Shirley Reid at the island's "alternative" newspaper. Her first issue is scheduled for next week, May 2.
"The opportunity came together very quickly," Ham said in an interview in her office, behind Morgan's Mango in Cruz Bay. A newcomer to St. John who left her home in Los Angeles to seek new adventures on island, with her fiancé, Ham laid out a number of plans in an e-mail to the Sun Times writers and advertisers.
She plans to renovate the Sun Times web site, offer special editions of the paper featuring "Best Of" themes, and add basic island information to the paper such as ferry schedules and restaurant/bar reviews. Another change she plans, but which might be common in other places, is to have "initiate written contracts for advertising." (What an island, eh?)
In a farewell, Tom Paine wrote, "It is time to return to my fiction writing and finish a third book, and Shirley looks forward to getting back to her life as an individual artist. Amelia, our daughter, wants to climb trees and weave things."
Ham said, "I want to assure you that the Sun Times will continue in much the same way as you are used to: features and events that are St. John-centric. Tom and Shirley have created a paper that everyone loves and I’d be insane to tinker too much with the formula."