To be, or not to be
Several readers asked "why" we published the letter from Blaze last week. They thought it violated our long standing policy of not allowing anonymous letters.
Actually, our letter policy insists that letter writers be identified so we can contact them for verification. It keeps a person from putting another person's name on the letter, to embarrass them. It happens if the newspaper is not careful. Such violations can cause heartache, temper, and action in court.
In the case of the letter last week, the author is identified as "Blaze" and gave a legitimate e-mail address which the newspaper contacted and received an answer giving approval to publish
The fact that it was a viscous personal attack on your Ol' Editor didn't keep us from publishing it. If, however, it had been a viscous personal attack on another private citizen we'd never have published it.
Readers don't realize that we receive dozens of nasty letters. Over the past several months we also have been visited by vandals which cost us thousands of dollars.
The letter writer called your OE "negative" and inferred that he has not done anything to help the town during the past few decades. Facts speak otherwise. The OE could more accurately be challenged for "boosterism." Instead of being against the landfill, for example, the OE was in favor (positive). The little signs that landfill opponents used were in the form of red stop signs. We'd rather see green ones with the message "go."
— BILL MEYER
