Finally after a little over two years piloting the News through the ebb and flow of Stafford County events and happenings, I am taking a break, but first we need to take care of a little business.
This week I am taking a week off. Well sort of. I’m working a few hours on Tuesday, maybe an hour on Wednesday, covering football on Friday, and Gracia Burnham at Hudson’s Trinity church on Sunday, but other than that, and the unforeseen accidents or house fires I am on vacation.
I’m not going anywhere, I just won’t be here.
In the past I claimed to be going on vacation when if fact I just came in and worked at night, but this time I’m staying at the farm as much as I possibly can. The paper will come out next week as it always does with Trish at the helm, and Carroll Bronson from the Pratt Tribune assisting her with the editor’s duties.
Deadlines, which most seem to ignore anyway, will be the same as always, Friday at noon for news and advertising.
However, before I depart this busy little beehive of news and sports I need to follow up on the astrology poll we have been running for the past two weeks.
A few weeks ago we had an issue with the Astro-Graph astrology I started running on page two. We ran a readers’ poll asking whether astrology should be dropped from the News or not. It turned out to be the most participated in poll that we have ran to date.
We had 26 votes for “Yes, keep them running.” We had eight votes for “Turn the page, don’t care about astrology, but think people should have the right to view it if they want.” We also had one vote, my personal favorite that said “Yes,” with a noted scrawled across the top that said, “You are doing a great job! Keep up the good work.” I didn’t know my mom subscribed to the St. John News.
We also had two “no” votes. Both came in on the same piece of paper with a note telling me to read Leviticus 20:27 “A man or woman who is a medium or spiritist among you must be put to death. You are to stone them; their blood will be on their own heads. "
Seems a little harsh to me, but if the 26 people that voted yes stop by and provide their own rock I will try to find the time to beat them about the head and shoulders with it.
Another scripture mentioned was Deuteronomy 18:10 "Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft."
If I catch any of my readers sacrificing their sons or daughters in a fire, you can bet I’m going to cancel their subscription.
The two no votes also said “we don’t really need comics in a weekly paper either.” Now you’re just making me mad. The comics, or Fun and Games page is one of my favorites. It’s an entertaining page that I don’t have to write.
I guess more than anything, I’m just surprised at the mentality of people that think simply because they don’t like something nobody else does either. Or because they don’t like something nobody else should be allowed to view it. If I maintained that sense of censorship, there would be a lot of things in this paper that might not make print.
We run a lot of stuff that I simply turn the page on because it does not interest me, but I know other people read it, like the leases and deeds for instance.
They are a pain to type up, and I don’t really care who is leasing or selling any particular plot of ground. If Trish didn’t do them, they wouldn’t run, but I know people read them because they stop in to tell us when we make a mistake on the lengthy and boring legal forms.
Basically, I would hope that all my readers are open-minded enough to realize this publication goes out to around 800 people and not all of them are going to enjoy the same things they do. The stuff that makes the paper is often things people bring by the office, or call and ask me to cover, so I know there is at least some interest in most of the stories we run.
When something doesn’t suit your fancy, turn the page, there are between nine and 13 other pages to look at for the 75 cents readers plunk down to purchase the printed edition.
I appreciate all the input we received on this latest poll, and I do want to keep the News a publication that serves the community and the readers that purchase it so I’m sure there will be more reader involvement stuff in the future. I hope more of you will vote in future questionnaires. They are free, and while I may pick on some of your responses from time-to-time. I promise to never use your names. (Except in letters to the editor.)
In the meantime, enjoy the week. I know I will.
According to Bernice’s Astro-graph for Virgos, “for many people, their greatest successes are likely to come from a collective effort, but, in your case, you're apt to be strongest when operating independently. Go it alone whenever you can.”
I think I’ll spend the next seven days hanging out with the dogs at the farm.
Terry Spradley is the editor of the St. John News. His e-mail address is sjnewseditor@embarqmail.com
