Published: April 07, 2008 01:45 pm            

OUR VIEW - March 12

What readers are saying

Here's what's been on your mind lately, along with our thoughts in response.



A recent submission to Rant & Rave:



What's with picking on Suwannee High? Your [March 5] front page carries an article headline, "SHS grad sentenced for sexual assault." Gee, I wonder what Suwannee High did to deserve this. No other headline for any of four other arrests showed where the suspect went to high school. The article in question doesn't identify where the convict went to church. Why not? It didn't identify where he worked as a younger man here. Why not? You didn't even inform us as to whether or not the convict had a subscription to the Suwannee Democrat when he lived here. I'm curious as to why the fact that he graduated SHS back in 2003 has some newsworthy bearing since he was convicted of a crime committed in 2006 in the state of Connecticut. Perhaps you can enlighten us. Anyone from your high school been arrested lately?



The reference to SHS in the headline was simply a shorthand way of indicating that the man in question was a former local resident. We're big supporters of Suwannee High, and in no way meant to suggest the man's actions somehow reflected badly on the school.



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An entry from last Friday's Rant & Rave:



I did not subscribe to the Suwannee Democrat to have it refer me to the computer for a story. Two women win the Chamber of Commerce top annual award and there is no story, just an advice to see the story on whatever.com. No way to run a newspaper.



We understand the reader's concern. The publishing world has begun to change of late, however, and faster than anyone might have imagined. Changes are inevitable for the Democrat as well. As the reader notes, not all our stories are printed in the newspaper. Some appear only online, at suwanneedemocrat.com. Our goal, however, isn't to replace the printed version of our paper, but to supplement it with our online offerings.

The Internet will help us make available all kinds of additional information we might not otherwise be able to publish - from additional event photos to property transaction records, for example. Stay tuned for more on this front.

(By the way, we're still waiting to hear from readers concerning the county commission agenda, which we plan to begin publishing online rather than in print. If you have an opinion about this or other issues, please let us know.)





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A fairly recent Letter to the Editor referred to the Arrest Record as "gossip" and suggested printing it in the Democrat was unnecessary since the same information is available online (at the sheriff's office website, www.suwanneesheriff.com).

In response, another reader noted not only that he found the Arrest Record valuable, but that he did not have a computer or Internet access and needed to see it printed in our paper.

Rest assured, we have no plans to quit publishing the Arrest Record.

Here's our goal. We're doing our best not only to provide you with the information you want, but to give it to you in the form you prefer. Sometimes that means publishing stories and photos both in print and on the Web. Sometimes it means publication only in one form or the other.

We're here to serve you, folks. Let us know what you want and what you'd like us to work on for the future. We'll do our best to deliver.

        

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