A mixed bag of stuff from readers this week on a variety of issues delivered by e-mail and by the old-fashioned tellyfone.

Here goes.

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A Burlington reader and military mom called on Monday to ask that we print more world and national news — particularly from the war in Afghanistan where her son is stationed. And make no mistake, there is a war in Afghanistan and an ugly one.

“I love the paper but lately I’ve been disappointed,” she said. “We need less sports. We don’t need to know how some little baseball team in Chicago did. We need world news. Even the local news seems like just a repeat of the same meeting over and again. Where’s the news about what’s going on in Afghanistan? I have a son over there and I want to know.”

I told her we would continue to try and strike a better balance as our space allows and perhaps rethink how some things are published. Later I asked our copy desk to pay more attention to news about the war, particularly in Afghanistan.

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I can always tell when politics is beginning to heat up because of calls and letters from readers making any number of claims about those in office or seeking to become one. It’ll get a lot worse before it gets better believe me.

Here’s a couple.

Hi, Madison,

Upon reading the Open Forum piece “Dems penalize thrift, reward shortsightedness” it is apparent that Robert L. Simpson, Alamance County Republican Party Chairman, has not gotten the message that voters sent in the primary season. Citizens of this country are tired of name-calling and negativity. When will politicians and their surrogates learn that their messages would be better received without resorting to such juvenile tactics as labeling the opposition “poor excuses for elected officials.” Describing HB 2499 as giving the Governor “virtual dictator powers” does nothing to advance the discussion (while omitting the fact that these enhanced powers are to be used in times of drought). Whether you agree with the legislation or not, the old tired politics of the past don’t work anymore. Just state the information as you perceive it without the name-calling, Mr. Simpson. It might just do wonders for your credibility.

Liberal Democrat

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 I’m going to assume this next one was from another Dem out there who called and left me this anonymous message on the phone.

“Let me tell you something, why should anybody believe George Bush cares about what’s going on in Georgia and Russia when he invaded a sovereign nation. Why should anyone care what he says?

“Think about it.”

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And on my column this past Sunday about Alamance County Commissioner Larry Sharpe and his questions about immigration enforcement locally the calls were mixed — but I got a higher number of compliments than I expected.

Here’s a sample.

From a Burlington resident …

“I appreciate your Thumb’s Up on Saturday and column on Sunday. “Larry’s a good man and a bright man. He’s made a contribution as a businessman and county commissioner. I’m not sure most people realize how lucky we are to have him.”

Marge Jirak from Burlington offered a similar opinion and applauded the Sharpe’s moderate stance on an issue that evokes so much emotion on both sides of the political and social arenas.

And an Alamance County reader put the matter this way.

“We need to find a way to do something about immigration without being bullies about it.”

I had two phone messages over the weekend about the column. The first caller identified himself as Brian Terrell.

“What happened to the story about American-born plumbers and others out of work because of illegal aliens? Illegal is illegal.”

The second call, which was anonymous, went like this: “Mr. Taylor the paper seems very one-sided. All I hear is from bleeding-heart liberals. Am I not the only one who doesn’t feel sorry for the lady at the library?”

And a couple of county commissioners left messages. Commissioner Tim Sutton said the column was “actually pretty good.” But he thought I should have given it more balance by including his comment that the kind of softness on immigration espoused by Sharpe is part of what created the problems we have now.

I thought it was a fair point.

Commissioner Ann Vaughan called to “say thank you so much for your editorial concerning Larry Sharpe. It was well done. You made good points. Thank you for what you did.”

A light bag of e-mail this week includes a criticism of how we covered an entertainment subject this year, an observation about a comment in one of our entertainment stories and another reader unhappy with the advertising department’s cut in pages for our TV Times, which is as most might have guessed, an entertainment-related issue.

Yes, folks like entertainment. And we know that. Here’s what they had to say.

An unnamed reader sent this message via our tip line on TheTimesNews.com.

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“it is very disappointing the lack of coverage of the Snow Camp Outdoor Theatre this year compared to other events … the theatre relies greatly on these reviews.”

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There was no concerted effort or plan to cut back on coverage of the outdoor theater that produces “The Sword of Peace” and other great productions each summer out at Snow Camp. In fact, we devoted less to theater productions across the board this past summer. This was a staffing issue as much as anything else. Our company cut a position late last summer in our Accent Department leaving it as a staff with two full-time writers who also design layout pages. There is a part-time typist as well as a fairly consistent flow of college interns.

That by itself ensures that we can’t get to everything the way we used to. Charity Apple and Brian Rose can only work so many hours each day — and believe me they spend lots of long days here just trying to keep their heads above water.

Things were complicated more this year by the terminal illness and passing of Brian’s wife Cathy. There simply were not enough hours or staff to handle the workload.

On the plus side it’s good to know that our theater reviews are read and appreciated. Thanks.

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While Charity was recently out with an illness, our news reporter Keren Rivas wrote a story about the showing of “Gone with the Wind” at the Paramount Theater. A reader took issue with a quote in the story, not the story itself. Here’s what she had to say.

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“I am a 30-something African American woman who enjoys the major storyline/love story in Gone With The Wind. When I read about the movie being shown at the Paramount in the today’s paper— the fourth paragraph threw me for a loop. When you mentioned that Gone with the Wind “…shows the good times prior to the War” my heart stopped. Some of my ancestors were slaves during those “good times” you wrote about. But I guess to the past commander of The Sons of the Confederate Veterans, Al Boswell, those were “good times”.

“Needless to say, I will not be attending the screening.”

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I share this reader’s concern about the lack of complete understanding of this chapter of our nation’s history. Slavery has shaped this nation’s future perhaps like no other issue. Until all people understand what this abomination really meant I fear we’ll never be truly be united as a country.

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And I got this message from Mary Futrell who has written before about issues involving the Times-News. Here’s the latest.

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“Please restore the late night TV pages and cut somewhere else. The entire editorial page could go.”

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I wrote Mrs. Futrell back and let her know that I wouldn’t mind eliminating the opinion page myself but I doubted our owners would care much for that.

This week’s e-mailbag contains one small note about what turned out to be a fairly large change in our service.

Here’s the simple statement from reader Lawrence Edwards.

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“Boy, did you guys ever screw this up.

“Do not even list sports or late night schedule.

Is this a permanent thing?”

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Mr. Edwards is referring to the weekly TV Times which is produced by our advertising department. A couple of weeks ago we cut the pages to 20 from 24. This meant eliminating something — in this case the midnight to 6 a.m. listings and the sports highlights. The change was made as a cost-cutting measure. The price of newsprint has grown a handful of times in recent months. Meanwhile other expenses such as gasoline are up.

To date I’ve received more than 30 telephone calls from readers objecting to the change. While the newsroom does not control the TV Times, we are in charge of the daily listings so the calls came my way. I’m glad to talk to our readers and I’ve promised to send the complaints along to the proper authorities.

But that doesn’t mean those pages will return anytime soon.

I plan to write a column about this on Sunday.

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Other e-mail this week was more complimentary. I got two very nice notes concerning a column I wrote that was published Sunday regarding our coverage of the death of Army Cpl. Pruitt Rainey.

Here they are.

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“Sir, being a fellow church member of Linda Kearney & Pruitt Rainey, I really appreciate the consideration you had for Linda. I learned of his death that night and I too wondered why there was nothing in our local paper. Now I understand your feelings and I’m glad you take the family’s pain first before beating other papers. I see Linda’s great pain and loss and without knowing all the facts, none of the newspapers should have printed it. You are to be admired not criticized. I’m very sorry you have had to hear news-hungry people giving you a hard time, but I for one, am grateful to you.”

A reader,

Frances Allison

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“How refreshing to read your article regarding your action (or delayed action) of printing news of Pruitt Rainey’s death.

“While I do not know Mr. Rainey or his family, your reasons for your action shows not only moral purity and character, and great integrity but also puts words to your high ideals in the midst of this growing secular world.

“I highly commend you for standing your ground and sticking to your beliefs, taking the high road, all the time knowing you would come under attack and be criticized for your decision.

“Your standard of: 1) refusing to have reporters camp in front yards, 2) asking for permission to attend funerals, 3) approaching families through friends of friends rather than repeated phone calls,  and 4) trying not to report details not thoroughly substantiated, should be a guideline and basis for all reporters to follow not only in covering deaths but any news story.

“While the news media is becoming more and more biased and flippant in their effort to “get the story out first” or just to print the story and meet a deadline, I am pleased to see that there are a few caring and concerned souls remaining.

“Please do not be swayed from your moral values.

“Blessings

“Eleanor”

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In a post I plan to file later we’re taken to task for our handling of a case involving the death of a member of the community. I’ll go into more detail about that later.

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Got this e-mail from Dale Stearns, an area car dealer, in response to my column about his call for more good news in the Times-News.

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“Madison,

“Just wanted to thank you for the kind response to my note regarding the $4.00 gas prices.  I had been meaning to send you a note but have just stayed busy trying to make the car business work … better!  I got an email this morning from the President of our New Car Dealer Association in Raleigh complimenting both of us about the article, so I decided it was time to say thanks.  We will keep an eye open for some news worthy “good news”.

“Dale “ 

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And here’s another note our city editor Brent Lancaster received regarding our work in print and online. It’s nice to hear the good stuff from folks.

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“Brent,

“It has been quite a while since I purchased the Times-News or any other paper.  But I stumbled onto the web site and have been reading the blogs and forums and I have to tell you it is great and I wanted to thank you and the staff for the laughs and the stimulating comments.

“Thank You

“Jim Young

“Ear Candy”

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Thanks for writing folks.

On the run this week — a short one because of the July 4 holiday. City editor Brent Lancaster is vacationing on the Redneck Riviera, which leaves myself and jay Ashley holding down the fort.

I’ll try to remember to put a marker where the building used to be.

Anyway, here — a couple of days late and a dollar or two short — is the regular Monday emailbag.

Got this one over the weekend from Jimmy Yoder who had a question about letters to the editor.

Mr. Taylor,

Why is it that when a letter to the editor is written by some one connected to the republican party it is noted after the letter of their party affiliation but when Jim Stiles letters are published it is not noted that he is an officer in the democrat party?

JCY

I wrote back to Mr. Yoder telling him that I had no idea that Mr. Stiles was affiliated with the county Democratic Party organization. I actually know very few party officials in either camp. I do know who the party chairmen are. The GOP chairman is Robert Simpson who I speak to often. When Mr. Simpson sends a letter I usually identify him as the party chair. Hunt Johnson is the Democratic chairman and if he writes a letter he will also be identified as such.

It’s unlikely we would identify any other party officers.

This message from an unidentified reader was passed to me by Steve Buckley — a parting gift as he went out the door on Monday for the last time. Steve retired as Times-News publisher — something he planned for months but was postponed by Freedom on more than a few occasions. In fact, we actually had a going away party for Steve in April.

Steve, we’ll miss you.

Here’s the note about our Opinion page.

I was always proud our little newspaper marched to its own drummer and had a conservative slant. There is no slant at all now. Declare yourself … either liberal (please no) or conservative. This is a political year & even the political cartoons suck wind. They don’t make me smile or scowl. Not even political. Most newspaper readers in Burlington are conservative. We are an older bunch & prefer the hands on of newspapers, now however, we are forced to get online to get our daily fix of political aggravation. If you want to keep us as customers, better give us something meaty on the political page.

We haven’t changed anything about our Opinion page since I arrived. We still run the same columnists and use the same roster of editorial cartoons. Freedom’s newspapers have never really been staunchly conservative or liberal. It’s a company founded by Libertarians — a philosophy that often falls in either camp depending upon the issue. If we lean any direction, though, it’s most certainly conservative.

That said, however, this writer may be on to something. I believe national columnists and cartoonists are unsure how to approach the presidential race. With the first black candidate winning the nomination of a major party, the line between satire and political correctness is a virtual unknown.

In my opinion if they comment fairly about both Barack Obama and John McCain then there will be no problems.

The other issue on current editorial comment largely stems from the very few positive editorials or cartoons available concerning the Bush administration. The guy in charge is always the target for political satire and the problems for President Bush only make that situation more extreme. There simply isn’t much out there — even from conservative writers and cartoonists touting the president.

And here is a note I got today from Mr. McQueen about our legal imbroglio with the city. So folks know, we will continue to sell papers in the area and use the city’s law the guideline. We’ll see how it goes.

Madison:

I, like you guys, am very disappointed in our judicial system, as usual! I understand why the Alamance News did not support you guys, however after the Nazi city so viciously attacked the weekly over its non-issue I feel they should have supported you in your fight against a redneck city government.

Again, Bob Ward, if he is so concerned about the hobos and the city hawkers, he should resign and donate his bloated city welfare salary to both causes.

I challenge the paper to point out that the bureaucrats and politicians at the city level, if they care so much for the safety of the hawkers and the hobos, must out of their own pockets, start a city sponsored charity to help and protect these poor unfortunate people. Don’t hold your breath and please don’t cave to local tyranny.

By the way, if the city cares so much about its people, then maybe they will give us a tax break, out of all these warn and fuzzy feelings that they now publicly have declared!

Safety continues to be a burning issue for the city council. We’ll have a story in Thursday’s paper about a new deal that’s come up involving gunplay and squirrels.

I may have a column about it this weekend.

 

A riddle with no clear answer, yet 

When is a newspaper not a newspaper anymore? This was a question posed by John Harwood in a weekend e-mail. Mr. Harwood was questioning our decision to file a lawsuit against the city of Burlington concerning street solicitation — a law that will move our newspaper hawkers to the sidewalks — if we can find suitable or safe places to do. By twist of fate, our newspaper sales program started at sidewalks but the Times-News agreed to move them for safety reasons.

But Mr. Harwood also touched on issues I and many in the newspaper industry have written about over the past year — namely the future of newspapers as we all get smaller. He was also noting some editor’s notes and columns recently written by me concerning what, if any, features we might remove from the newspaper. At this writing, I still hope that none will need to be removed.

Here’s the note I got on Saturday from Mr. Harwood.

Dear Madison,

My wife and I were very relieved when the City Council made the decision to ban all solicitations.  I doubt you were in Burlington when they descended on the city from out of state in car and bus loads soliciting for non existent churches or religious organizations because they knew Burlington citizens were kind hearted and a soft touch.  They obstructed our view at busy intersections, they endangered themselves by walking in the road, they approached us in confrontational attitude, in a few rare instances they threatened some women of our city.  Restrictions were increased by the Council, still the police were unable to be everywhere and abuses continued.  I appreciate your concern for the loss of jobs of the few persons you employ from the Allied Churches Ministries.  I myself work on a monthly basis in the food kitchen of that ministry.  Still I think that If you were truly concerned with the loss of job of these needy persons you would help them find and obtain other employment, while at the same time respecting the welfare of the larger community.  I confess that this appears too much like the typical media arrogance displayed in attempting to construe the First Amendment freedom to mean freedom not to be challenged or inconvenienced.

 I find the timing of this interesting.  I enjoy taking my paper with a cup of coffee into my chair and reading it from cover to cover.  Sitting in front of a computer monitor does not provide the same tactile experience.  I believe a newspaper should provide me an overview of culture, that means having a variety of sections on a variety of areas.  Because of the economic plight of newspapers, you have been forced to reduce size, and now content of your paper, until I have begun to wonder when a newspaper is no longer a newspaper.  I suspect the impact of your decision to challenge the Council will be on your existence since circulation will most likely decrease.  I say this since it will influence our personal decision as to whether your shrinking paper is any longer worth the cost. Until recently we have been satisfied with your publication, especially your community interest.

John Harwood

This is what I wrote to Mr. Harwood in return.

Mr. Harwood,

    Thanks for writing. I agree with you on several points. The decision to pursue this further as you suspect is as much about preserving the newspaper as anything else. Ultimately we’re not just talking about the eight homeless people who hawk our product but likely full-time positions within our building that will likely go away when we lose 800 Sunday papers. Losing 800 Sunday papers — just based on advertising insert revenues alone — represents a loss of $50,000 or more annually.

     It saddens me what’s happened to newspapers — and it’s not only ours. Greensboro and Winston-Salem are only shells of their former selves and the Charlotte Observer looks a lot like the Times-News these days. The N&O has lost nearly 200 people in the past two months and is tumbling fast.

     We’re going to hold on as long as we can. The page size reduction didn’t hurt us much — in fact we even made a couple of improvements. Then our corporate bosses said we had to cut our page counts by 10 percent.

     I’m fighting to keep all we can in the paper. That’s why I ask for feedback from readers so I know what they want to see stay or go. Hearing from people like you really helps.

     We will continue to advance the cause of community news.

Thanks

Madison

This was his reply.

Madison, thank you for taking the time, from what must be a frantic, trying day, to respond, and respond in a courteous, straight forward way.  It helps me better appreciate  issue  and what you are up against.  I only wish you had the option to seek relief in some other way than federal lawsuit. As I indicated I fear that such legal action may backfire on you.  I would not like to lose the Times News, but when it becomes a non-paper or succumbs to financial pressure, I shall have no choice, shall I?  Sadly, in my opinion, if the newspaper disappears, yours included, we shall all be losers.

I agree with Mr. Harwood for reasons that go well beyond self-preservation. An active newspaper is a sign of a healthy and engaged community – something true of all media by the way. This is why it’s also a strong First Amendment issue.

Still, as I told Mr. Harwood, we hope to continue to produce lots of news of community interest with an increased emphasis on investigating the actions of those in leadership roles. We’ll continue to give our readers a print forum to sound off about local issues and we also hope to provide services those same readers expect.

Net gain or loss?

Doing so while we also continue to wrestle with a Web site is a whole other issue. I got this note on Sunday from Al Coates in reference to my column. Mr. Coates writes to me often and really detests the newspaper. That’s OK. But I don’t think he has a firm knowledge of how things work in our industry either.

Here’s what he wrote.

I read with interest your column this morning. How many hits on the hard copy do you think you get if you could put it in relative terms. The hard paper is it for your industry and if you keep messing with the net more than you mess with the hard copy you will surely loose. The paper is spending too much energy on what the so called worms look at and not enough time on the people who pay the subscriptions. Give people a quality paper and they will support it. As it is you have a cookie cutter that just does not do the job.

Oddly enough, our paper is hardly a cookie cutter as Mr. Coates suggests but our web site definitely is.

This what I wrote back.

  Mr. Coates. I wish I could agree with you. Papers all over the nation are losing subscriptions by the thousands and in fact ours is doing better than most. But lost subscriptions have more to do with changing times than quality of publication. As far as the Times-News goes, it’s a far better product today than it was when I got here a year ago in terms of local news production and coverage. This is even with our budget being cut to the bone. Tight budgets, not lack of attention by writers, editors and photographers, are also hurting newspapers.

 The thing you don’t understand is that the print edition is still our primary objective. The web actually comes second. The sad thing is we could add staff, pour more money in the product and spend no time online and the paper would improve only slightly but subscriptions wouldn’t go up one bit.

   Times are changing Mr. Coates and we’ll both be saddened by the future. Newspapers won’t last much longer but neither will local radio stations or perhaps even local TV stations. Lots of people these days get their music and talk via satellite radio. Many people watch their favorite TV shows online rather than on cable or network TV.

   The thing that will help all local outlets survive the longest will be attention to local subjects and issues. We’re getting better at this but still have a way to go. WBAG’s talk programming provides an excellent community service but none of the local stations in Burlington provide much in the way of news gathered by the stations themselves.

   Reporting, talk and chat at home are the keys to survival for local media. How long that will work, however, is anybody’s guess. If you check how few people actually vote for city council and county commission it’s revealing.

      Thanks for writing Mr. Coates. It’s always good to hear from you.

Madison

What is the meaning of this? 

  On to other subjects. Got this note from Melissa Moorehead of Swepsonville about our weekly opinion page feature Ups and Downs.

Dear editor,

Since you continue to run an editorial feature called ups and downs, I can no longer restrain my curiosity.  What, exactly, is an up, and why would a thumb have one?  Or a down, for that matter?  I am embarrassed every time I share a snippet from that feature and am unable to answer the inevitable first question that the reader asks.

Thank you for your help!

I called and left a message for Ms. Moorehead. The derivation of Ups and Downs relates to the symbolic thumb up pointing to the sky to note something positive or good while the thumb pointing downward marks something unwanted or bad. The gestures date to the ancient Romans who used the symbol as a signal to determine whether someone lived or died during competitions. Over time it evolved into several meanings ranging from “all systems go” to “full speed ahead.” In our case it simply means “nicely done” or “stick a sock in it.”

Bottom feeding carp resurface

Got this a couple of weeks ago regarding our online commenting system. I’ll admit it’s not the best – but it does allow more comment than the old one did.

Here’s the note.

Looks like to me from all of your “carping” about freedom of the press (and by extension, freedom of expression) on street noosepaper sales that we have a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black, since we are now all Plucked together in an Orwellian blog that for the purpose of public discourse on issues is about as useless as tits on a porcupine. That little bit about “potential liability for libel” is about the most transparent and disingenuous red herring that I’ve seen come down the pike in quite a while.

Bottom Feeding Carp I

I can’t take any credit for the note warning about libel but I would tell those who post there that should they go out of bounds they could face legal trouble from those they write about. I’ll also say that our newest commenting system allows more freedom than the other — but I wouldn’t brag about either.

Part of the job … but that’s don’t help none

And in another online matter I got this note a couple of weeks back.

I am a wife of a man who has been charged with a crime. I have been devastated and humiliated by my husband, the sheriff’s department and now your news paper.

My heart is broken by my husband, for the mistake he made. I have no idea if my marriage will make it though this. I am not sure he can recover from this.

My quiet little home was invaded by the sheriff’s department.  Try coming home early from work only to find 3 police cars in your driveway.  It eventually grew to 6 cars in MY driveway. Not my husbands driveway, but mine.

And in disgust, today I see “Breaking News” on your website. Why? I ask. You don’t know our situation. You don’t know if he is guilty. You think nothing of his family and wife and children? We would have been alright.  We would have been able to ignore the neighbors’ questions.  We could have answered the questions of those whom we are close. But do you really think we will be able to ignore everything and everyone? What about the people we work with? Guess you’ve never had to ignore evil gossip at work.  The malicious rumors that are ten times worse than reality?  But let’s forget the husband who has only been charged, NOT CONVICTED.  How does the wife or mother or children live with everyone knowing our pain and humiliation? 

I understand that families are upset by what we print in the paper and online. Our only hope is that we can provide accurate information that will hopefully keep rumors at bay. We also strive to report when people are found not guilty the same way we report things when they’re arrested.

But our system isn’t perfect. And so folks know, many of us do think of the families – but our readers expect us to report news. It’s what we’re paid to produce.

Got a couple of notes by e-mail from folks who had something to say about the Burlington City Council’s action Tuesday night about roadside solicitors, panhandlers and newspaper vendors.

This one is from Mr. McQueen, who believes the city is capable of things even I don’t think they’d try:

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Mr. Taylor:

Revenge is bitter sweet.  I am ashamed of our city leaders.  WBAG has been a big help to the “Good Old Boys Gang”.  They continue to brain-wash the small minded idiots  who believe in their bigoted ramblings.  Harry continues to say that the city has a right to ban people doing business in the middle of the street.  He is a poor excuse for a radio show host as is Bill the Bigot Huff.  They both laugh at the Times right to sue the city.  Go for it and I hope you win. The city is too big and too powerful and does little for the poor in this town, except rip them off with bloated salaries and corrupt bureaucrats.

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And this one is from an old friend who made this comment in a note about another subject. Thought I’d share it.

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I’m still puzzled that the pols couldn’t differentiate between a panhandler and someone selling a newspaper for the DTN. It doesn’t appear the pols use logic much, but then, what else is new?

Will WHS cheerleaders be arrested and jailed if they are on the street, asking people to stop for a fund-raiser car wash now?

What a bunch of ma-roons.

A column and stories about Burlington’s proposal to end all street vending — including newspapers and charities as well as panhandlers — drew a couple of comments from readers. It also got a few on the previous blog post about the same subject.

This is the e-mail message I got Sunday night in response to my column published in Sunday’s Times-News from Mr. McQueen, a city resident who keeps his eye on local government. And I mean a keen eye.

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Mr Taylor:

Keep up the good fight against the Nazi City of Burlington’s attempts to get revenge against any Media outfit that crosses their path.  From their obvious attempts to put down the Alamance News over the idiotic kids lists to their subtle attempts at revenge against you guys over the salary publications by banning the hobos as a diversion to get at your paper sellers.  The City of Burlington bureaucracy and management is corrupt and greedy and preys on the gullible public with obvious power grabs.  Hoo-Ray for a free press that will fight a bloated government bureaucracy that should be  cut by at least 50%.

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I’m not as convinced as Mr. McQueen that there is a grand conspiracy or that Burlington is competing with George Orwell’s Big Brother but I completely agree that government on all levels needs to be watched and watched hard. People are elected with loads of good intentions but somewhere along the line they fall off the track and those well-meaning goals become really bad policy.

It could be as simple as a lack of thinking. Folks today act without gauging all the consequences of what they do. It’s an epidemic in public life.

Here’s another reader weighing in on the street solicitation issue.

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Madison,

Have you gotten your hands on the Elon “study” that the city council references when discussing this issue?

If my memory serves me, the questions were written to quantify just one point of view…panhandlers are scary and the study just documented how scary.  Folks like me who enjoy buying a newspaper just by sticking my hand out of the car window were not given the opportunity to express that in the study because of the way the questions were written and the very limited choice of answers.

If you can get your hands on the study and it is as I remembered it, I will be glad to comment on it’s limitations Tuesday night from my experience as the Research Manager.  We don’t need to create a habit of using misleading research to set public policy.

Julie Budd

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Julie is another frequent and much welcomed writer who has an interest in lots of local government issues. She’s a media person who’s also watched lots of stuff happen over the years.

As far as the solicitation issue goes, lots of people are likely to address the Burlington City Council issue about Tuesday night. The Times-News publisher and attorney will be there as well as Allied Churches and other groups.

We’ll see.

OK, after posting a special edition that tackles the always hairy situation involving mangled comics, I can get down to business with our regular weekly rendering of the never-popular, seldom duplicated and always supplicated “Monday e-mailbag..”

And this week there really wasn’t much to speak of. Folks knew I was out of town, I guess.

Anyway, I did get this message from Michael Clayton, who’s written to me before. He didn’t care much for the main editorial cartoon we selected for the past Sunday’s Times-News. I’ve posted at the start of this column.

The timing was the largest factor for Mr. Clayton.

Here’s what he had to say.

“Thought you could have made a better choice of the Sunday’s page A4 cartoon. McCain whether you like him or not is definitely a hero after all he went through as a prisoner of war and his service to his country. This is Memorial Day weekend and we should remember our people that served our great nation so well especially the ones that made the ultimate sacrifice.  Maybe run this political cartoon some other time beside Memorial Day weekend. The sacrifices that a lot of people made is why you and I enjoy the freedom we have and you have freedom of the press and not told what to say by some government or dictator. Give the real Heroes their holiday.”

Selecting editorial cartoons is one of the trickiest decisions out there for opinion page editors. One size never fits all. And timing, as Mr. Clayton notes, is everything. We try to spread things around so all politicians get stunk one way or another. I thank Mr. Clayton for bringing this to our attention.

And I also got a very nice note from Howard Hawks concerning my column from the previous week about moving to Burlington. Howard was a major help in that area and I said so.

Howard hollered back in return.

“Madison,

So there I was walking into my church Sunday morning heading for Sunday school class and I get accosted by someone whom I have apparently shown a different side to. “Patient man?” they said. I must apologize for being a bit of a stranger but I normally keep up with your writings and Roselee’s reporting. I have also be doing mostly commercial real estate work with another firm so I unfortunately don’t come over to the building much anymore.

I would like to say thank you for your kind words on Sunday. I am certainly glad the house I hopefully helped you purchase is now your home.”

To say we can’t thank Howard enough is a major understatement. Thanks again my friend.

Then I got more e-mails about it when I returned over the weekend. Here are some examples. This one came from a local reader who posted over our online letters to the editor format.

“This won\’t change the world, but the Peanuts strip in Sunday\’s funnies usually is not complete - one whole row of panels is missing.”

Then I got a note by e-mail from Ken Sheldon of Elon.

“For the last few weeks I have noticed that the Sunday Peanuts comic only has the first two lines of panels, missing the last line. Why is this happening? As a long time Peanuts fan, I know the format of these strips and know that we are only getting the first two-thirds of the Sunday strip. Can this be corrected so we get the entire strip? It is like setting up a joke and leaving out the punch line.”

I also got this from Dan Thompson of Graham.

“Love your paper, and your choice of comics, but are you aware you’ve been running the Sunday Peanut’s comic strip without the 3rd row of cartoon panels which is the row with the punch line… instead of the 2nd and 3rd row of panels, you’re running row 1 and 2.”

I want to thank these readers for letting us know about this problem. The Sunday Comics are an odd thing. We receive the package from an outside source — and have for years by the way. The entire thing is printed somewhere else then delivered here for insertion into the Sunday Times-News.

These days our Sunday comics are printed at the Gaston Gazette, one of our sister newspapers. I told the editor there Hunter Bretzius about our complaints. Oddly, they had received none from their readers — which may not bode well for Peanuts down the road.

Hunter checked into the problem and wrote back that she hoped to have it taken care of very soon. A page builder at the Gazette hasn’t placed the strip correctly in recent weeks.

A warning to readers, though. Sometimes these color comics are built weeks in advance. It may take a week or two to hash this all out.

But help is one the way.