Editorial pages are reserved for opinions

Editorial pages are unlike any other pages in the paper, because they are reserved for opinions. News appears on other pages, free from opinions, except those of news sources that may be quoted from time to time.

Reader’s opinions and the newspaper’s opinion both appear on the editorial pages of both newspapers. We even label the page as the “Opinion Page.”

One editor wrote, “The front page is for the report of what others are doing. The editorial page is the report of what the editor thinks they should be doing.” An editorial is written by the editor and represents the newspaper’s stand or commentary on an issue.

An editorial can praise, thank, inform, criticize, strengthen, invite, share or critique. An editor’s viewpoint can change over time. An editorial opinion is a timely statement on an event. New information, new circumstances and a change in attitude can change an editor’s viewpoint from one year to the next.

We print reader’s comments on the same page, as “Letters to the Editor.” They are the lifeblood of a community newspaper, because the newspaper exists as a forum for debate and exchange of ideas.

We print our opinions and those of our readers. We treat their opinions as carefully as our own. Libelous remarks are cut out and we reserve the right to edit all letters, without altering the intent. We encourage letters to be typed or printed in upper and lower case being careful of correct punctuation and grammar.

We cannot publish thank you letters listing more than five individuals or businesses. Likewise, we don’t publish commercial messages veiled as letters to the editor. These items are best published as advertising.

Finally, we require that all letters be signed by the author. By publishing the writer’s name, we make them accountable for their opinion and we keep the newspaper from becoming a vehicle for innuendo.

We make the editorial page one of distinction, located in the same place each week. We’re proud to display the writings of this newspaper and our readers on it’s special pages.

If you don’t like the editor’s opinion you may call him and tell him so, or you may flatter him even more by writing a letter for publication.