(From left) Trustee John Steimel, Trustee Ron Sliwinski, Trustee Brian Birney, Clerk Penny Shults, Sherman Publications Publisher Jim Sherman, Supervisor Chris Barnett, Trustee Mike Flood and Treasurer Donni Steele.

By Jim Newell

Review Writer

135 years and counting.

That’s how long The Lake Orion Review, under various names, has served the Orion community.

On Monday, the Orion Township Board honored The Lake Orion Review as Orion’s “Storyteller” with a Proclamation marking the newspaper’s milestone.

“Now, Therefore, I, Chris Barnett, Supervisor the Charter Township of Orion, do hereby congratulate the Lake Orion Review on their 135 years of dedicated service and thank them for their commitment to our community,” the proclamation reads.

Publisher Jim Sherman, Jr. accepted the proclamation.

“A newspaper, I like to say, is a neighbor to neighbor business,” Sherman said. “It just makes my heart feel great. Until someone comes along and does something like that, issuing a proclamation celebrating your service to the community, you don’t really think of celebrating your own milestones.”

“In a time when newspapers seem to be going out of style…there is one that rises above the rest, and that is our very own Lake Orion Review,” Barnett said. “It’s a great source to keep up on local news.”

Sherman Publications, Inc. publishes four community newspapers: The Lake Orion Review, The Clarkston News, The Oxford Leader and The Citizen in Ortonville; as well as two shoppers, The Penny Stretcher and The Ad-Vertiser, and a 50,000-plus circulation coupon magazine, The Big Deal.

“I think we’re really blessed to have a strong weekly publication in our community and the areas around us,” Barnett said. “Thank you, Jim (Sherman, Jr.), to you and your dad and your family. It’s a great tool to advertise and to stay in the loop.”

The Sherman family has owned The Lake Orion Review since 1972, when James Sherman, Sr., bought the newspaper from Marty and Ellen Carlson, who were publishers from Jan. 1, 1964 to Dec. 1, 1972.

The Review was founded as The Orion Wave on Dec. 24, 1881, with John A. Neal as the first publisher.

While the newspaper has undergone several name changes over the years – from The Orion Wave to The Orion Weekly Review, then Lake Orion Review to The Orion Review and now The Lake Orion Review – it’s mission has stayed the same: to provide Orion residents with the news, business and community stories that shape the community.

And as the times change, The Lake Orion Review has evolved while still maintaining its traditional charm.

“Print media really hasn’t changed that much,” Jim Sherman, Jr. said. “The overall change is the social media aspect and how we keep up with that.

“I was looking at Facebook today and we actually have twice as many ‘Likes’ on our Facebook page as we have subscribers,” Sherman said.

Township Clerk Penny Shults spearheaded the proclamation effort and on Thursday will interview Jim Sherman and Assistant Publisher Don Rush at the ONTV broadcast station.

The segment will air later this year. Check orionontv.org for listings. The Lake Orion Review will also link the segment on our Facebook page and website once it becomes available.

For local news coverage, visit The Lake Orion Review website at lakeorionreview.com and ‘Like’ us on Facebook.

Or, stop by and grab a printed newspaper at The Lake Orion Review office, 30 N. Broadway St. in downtown Lake Orion. After all, we’ve been there since 1893.