My Friend Calls It Like They See It

A year after leaving the publication I helped start, I received an email from someone in the know. I have made a conscious decision to stop harping on the issue of the guy who runs the publication from his castle on the hill, but this email speaks miles:

Did you see the latest issue? Talk about a joke. It's cool that he put in so much political stuff, but the people in all the other towns must be feeling a bit left out. Best of the rouge valley, thats laughable. Good stuff from the mayor candidates though. Bet your chuckling about him saying that he is being democratic by not altering any of the submissions. Too bad most who read that will think he's noble when really he just doesn't want to pay for an editor. What is it you always say? There is a big difference between revising and proofing. What a cop out huh?

I wondered what you thought about him trying to convince people that he is some kind of proponent for democratic and free speech. How many times did he turn down articles or not print them because HE didn't like them or think they were not interesting? How often did he try to tell people how to write their articles? Talk about a hypocrite. But hey maybe he finally had a change of heart and is actually practicing what he preaches. So far I have not seen too many member articles printed, just from those he has in his inner circle. So much for democracy.

He also gave up on his mission statement and switched to something a little more clear. Good to know he has finally figured out that the old one made little sense.

I also notice this issue is real light on ads. Hope for his sake that was a conscious decision to make room for the candidates. And what was up with it coming out a week late? Something tells me that things are falling apart.

The remainder of this email was cut short so as to protect the author from possible defamation charges.

My friend raises a lot of good points. The thing I found most interesting about the editorial in which he attempts to sound like he's all for democracy was that he once again took a stab at his primary competitor's article on the proposed restaurant letter grading. He called the article one-sided. I agree that the article did exhibit some bias, but it wasn't that bad. It's interesting that a pro-Obama person would use such McCain tactics.

He made the entire original proposal/statement that the restaurant grade petitioner made to the city council available on the website, but it did nothing to help make his case. I was most amused that the whole reason the grade proponent went through the whole process of collecting petitions to put the measure on the ballot was that he "thought it was a neat idea." Eh? Well, that sounds like the right reason to pass this fiscally irresponsible measure.

Oh well, chalk one more up for the autocrat who hides behind rhetoric.