The Opelika Observer is the brainchild of local investors who wanted a community owned and operated newspaper that would devote its entire focus to the Opelika area.

Jayson Hill, executive editor of the Observer, said Charles Whatley was the investor who originally came to him and asked if he would consider being the editor and business manager of a new Opelika newspaper.

“That was back at the beginning of September, and the paper did not even have a name and only had two or three financial backers,” Hill said.

“Events never even gave me a chance to say no. I got swept up in the moment and the enthusiasm everyone had for a paper that would serve just the Opelika area, and do it in a manner the city really deserved.”

Hill said the name of the paper is inspired from an earlier time in Opelika history.

“Henry Stern, one of Opelika's most avid historians, told us about a paper that was published in Opelika back in the 1870s and early 1880s,” he said. “The paper was called The Opelika Observer. The name just seemed to stick from that point on. We ended up dropping ‘The' and went with simply Opelika Observer.”

The Observer is looking for news from all over Opelika and Hill said he encourages citizens to send in pictures from events throughout the community.

While Tess Hollis, the paper's associate editor, Hill and regular columnists will be writing original news and taking pictures for the paper, the Observer wants to encourage civic groups, schools, governmental entities and businesses to send information and pictures from both their upcoming events and those events that have already taken place.

All news submitted for consideration should be sent to the Opelika Observer via e-mail to: opelikaobserver@att.net .

It is requested that text be in Microsoft Word format, while pictures can be submitted in any of the standard graphics formats.

News should arrive by noon on Mondays to be eligible for publication in the following Thursday's edition.

The Opelika Observer offices are located at 216 S. 8th Street, in what many local people call “the old Woolworth's building.”

The building most recently has been divided into small office suites suitable for housing small companies like the Opelika Observer.

“The Opelika Observer offices are a base for me and Tess Hollis as we cover the news and layout the paper each week,” Hill said. “It is also where the advertising sales staff of Elizabeth Roberts, marketing director, and advertising sales representatives Doug Horn and Leroy Stewart, returns to work their magic putting together the ads that fund our continued existence. Actual printing of the paper and preparing it for mailing is accomplished off-site.”

The Opelika Observer publishes each week and will come to subscribers in their Thursday mail.

A 52-issue subscription costs $10 for residents of Lee County and $20 for subscribers outside the county.

In addition, the Opelika Observer will have paper distribution boxes scattered throughout the city with papers available for 25 cents.