Urban refugee helps keep community connected to the world

By JOHN MARSHALL
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

The computer and fax have brought a new breed of resident to Port Townsend: telecommuters and software and Internet entrepreneurs. The dream of living in a sophisticated smaller place -- where the rare horn honk still prompts comment -- has now become a possibility for many would-be urban refugees.

Ned Schumann was a computer pioneer here, a software executive who arrived from the Washington, D.C., area in 1992 after a brief stop in Port Townsend on what he recalls as "one of those perfect days."

The 54-year-old entrepreneur now works out of a new two-story outpost behind his historic home. The specially constructed building houses Townsend Communications, including an Internet service provider (OlympusNet) with 3,000 area customers. Townsend has 14 employees, all working at home, so staff meetings are held at the town community center.