On the local media landscape, the departure of Bob Cilman and the arrival of Diane Welter as editor of Elder Vision went virtually unnoticed and certainly underreported.

Hardly surprising, because the tabloid-style newspaper serves a community - the nearly 5,000 Northampton citizens who are at least 60 years old. - that is pretty much invisible as well in this self-defined hip city of 30,000.

Even those of us who are 65 and getting a monthly Social Security check tend not to think of ourselves as elderly, and probably not involved with the Council of Aging, which publishes Elder Vision from the basement of Memorial Hall every other month. And we probably don’t think the newspaper has much to tell us.

Cilman, who started the newspaper in 1987 with the page one headline - "Move Over Gazette, New Paper in Town" - admits that in the community as a whole Elder Vision "is under recognized." Yet, among many seniors the response and enthusiasm for the publication is robust, he says.

In an interview with downstreet.net, Cilman, now director of the Northampton Arts Council, seemed both pleased with the track record of Elder Vision during his 14-year tenure and confident of its future.

"I’m a big fan of Diane," he said. "She’s going to do a great job with the paper, she has that old-fashioned caring about people."

Welter, who has already produced two issues of the paper, will have to balance the half-time editor’s job with her position as assistant director of the Council on Aging and program coordinator.

"It’s great to have this thing handed to you," she said in an interview. "It’s wide open, it has endless possibilities."

And as if she had overheard Cilman’s comments about her, Welter added: "Bob made it what is and it’s unique in the state."

With the thank you’s taken care of, Welter, 56, hinted that she would like to take Elder Vision in slightly new directions, perhaps even delving into issues that might spark some controversy.

"A lot of the writing is wonderful," she said, with a particular nod to long-time contributors Bette Ondras and David Kopko. But many of the writers understandably don’t have a zest for stories that could be controversial. "Their manners are too good to get involved in controversy," said Welter.

"I wish we had a few people who were eager to ask harder questions and to explore difficult issues," she said, while recognizing that as a branch of the city government the Council on Aging operates under certain self-imposed restrictions.

During his tour as editor, Cilman, 48, said the "biggest struggle with Elder Vision was that the writers wanted to write about the past and write about themselves." Pushing writers to function more as reporters was always a challenge, he said.

"I was good at finding the quirky interesting articles to write about," he said, and while some columnists would take a stand "we were careful not to push one point of view too much."

Welter says the publication cycle works against Elder Vision having a sharper edge. "It’s is hard to have breaking news every two months, to cover something and still be relevant and not out of date by the time you come out." she said.

One of her principal tasks, she said, will be to cast a wider net to find writers and contributors to Elder Vision.

"I’m trying to recruit people, " Welter said as the laughter of the Wednesday afternoon cribbage players reverberated outside her office. "There are lot of writers out there who don’t think to get involved in Elder Vision. People who meet the definition and don’t regard themselves as elderly. It’s writing, it’s putting out a newspaper. I would hope that would appeal."

Both Cilman and Welter recognize that there is resistance among the non-elderly and even those who meet the age test to either take Elder Vision seriously or even bother to thumb through it. "People who are younger who actually read it find interesting stuff," says Cilman.

"Baby boomers really refuse to see themselves as elderly," says Cilman. He called the attitude of the AARP, the national organization that represents older citizens, "obnoxious" for presenting in its publications elderly as looking very young. "They don’t honor aging, they honor the ability to stay young."

He speculates that the name Elder Vision may work against attracting younger readers. "We thought of it as respecting your elders and also as you live longer you gain wisdom. Age is honorable, as Asian cultures honor older people."

Naturally, much of the paper’s coverage is aimed at those topics that are critical for an older population, such as the "the whole health-care issue, which is a life and death matter for seniors," says Welter.

Elder Vision’s total circulation is about 6,000 - 4,500 of which are papers sent directly to the homes of anyone 60 years old based on information provided by the Registrar of Voters, with another 1,500 copies distributed through various other outlets, such as stores and public buildings.

The newspaper is free. Its production costs for printing and postage for mailing, which amount in total to about $1,500 and issue, are covered by paid advertising and donors who give $5 a year to have their names run on the donors’ page. The cost of Council on Aging staff time, such as the salary for the editor, is not covered by advertising income.

"We never had a problem getting ads," said Cilman, "but we never overdid advertising." He said ad revenue and donations "go well beyond" covering production costs.

Since it began in 1987, Elder Vision has come out like clockwork, six times a year. "We never missed that deadline by more than a week," says Cilman, who presided over the publication of some 90 issues.

In the beginning, he said, it was necessary to actively recruit staff to write for the paper, but then "people came to us." The staff at one point reached 15. "We’ve had some interesting characters," he said.

One current writer, Bette Ondras, has been on board since the beginning of Elder Vision.

Ondras, who said she is in her 80s, has written for each issue of the paper since 1987, although "I might have missed a couple because of deaths in the family." Despite her age, she said: "I still have all my buttons" and the work "keeps me going."

Born in Hatfield and a resident of Florence since 1953, Ondras said many of her articles were profiles of community members, who she would interview in their homes. "Interviews over the phone didn’t work," she said.

"I tried to get it right and have it right and to go to the source," she said. Her articles, she said, are written out in long-hand on her kitchen table. "People tell me they like what I do, old folks do." Former residents who have moved away send notes from as far away as California and Texas commenting on her Elder Vision articles.

Besides offering basic information for seniors, says Welter, "Elder Vision is the Council’s only direct connection with each and every person over 60. We come into their homes, it’s like a first hand out - an offer of friendship and service."

And that, she said, furthers Elder Vision’s role as community builder, a link between Northampton’s newcomers and its hometowners. "I always liked that idea."