By Gretchen Millich, WKAR News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkar/local-wkar-948330.mp3
EAST LANSING, MI – With the passing of the long time editor of the North Woods Call earlier this month, it now seems likely that the legendary little newspaper will not continue without him.
Glen Sheppard, known as Shep, took over the North Woods Call in 1969 and turned IT from a nature-lovers' journal into a hard-hitting conservation news publication. In it's heyday in the 1970's and 80's, Shep was regularly breaking environmental news. Many staffers in the state regulatory agencies read the Call and many would leak information to Shep. He was so critical of Governor Engler's environmental policies that for a time, the paper was banned from all state offices.
Hugh McDiarmid, Jr. with the Michigan Environmental Council says Shep and the work he did are irreplaceable and a great loss for the conservation and journalism communities in Michigan.
"With today's media market, there's a lot of places to get conservation news, environmental news, news on what our state and local governments are doing in terms of protecting our natural resources, but there certainly is not going to be anybody like Shep telling it like it is," says McDiarmid. "He lived that. He lived and breathed that twenty-four seven. I don't think there's really anybody else in the state who has that kind of passion."
Shep's wife, Mary Lou Sheppard, says the last issue will be a tribute to Shep.