Vashon businessman Tom Bangasser will not purchase The Loop after all, according to Steven Allen, publisher and editor of the twice-monthly paper.

Allen said the two had a hand-shake agreement, leading to last week’s announcement. But when Allen took a look at the lengthy contract Bangasser’s lawyer had drawn up, he realized the two were not in complete agreement, he said.

“What Tom and I talked about verbally we just haven’t been able to manifest into a document we can sign,” Allen said. “It’s just not there.”

Asked where the biggest differences lay, Allen said it centered in part around The Loop’s outstanding debt, which he incurred when he took the paper over from Islanders Troy Kindred and Marie Browne.

Bangasser, he said, wasn’t willing to assume that debt. “And I didn’t want to be under that burden anymore,” Allen said.

Bangasser declined a request for comment from The Beachcomber, saying in an email that the paper does “not always reflect either the context or content of our conversations” and that his request for corrections goes unreported.

Bangasser resigned from the Vashon-Maury Island Community Council’s board Sept. 1 in light of his decision to purchase The Loop. In an email to the board, he said it was in the council’s best interest that he step down because of his “plan to assume owner/publisher responsibilities for the Vashon Loop newspaper.”

Tim Johnson, who chairs VMICC’s board, said Bangasser’s decision can’t be rescinded. “Officially, it has been made and accepted,” Johnson said.