A few months ago I went on an obtuse rant about the misuse of white space in the Times Daily. - Well not exactly the misuse of the white space, rather the fact that it seemed to be marred by numerous black and gray alphanumeric characters arranged in such a manner to make little or no sense at all.
Granted the story lines were complete. The grammar was correct. The punctuation precise.
It was just the complete absence of facts that seemed to get my goat.
As Kathryn Tucker Windham, Alabama's storyteller, and author of " 13 Alabama ghosts and Jeffrey", once said " You just can't tell the whole story if you stick to the facts. " Otherwise stated by a familiar family member - "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story."
But I am not sure this applies to the editorial page.
My problem child is the waste of valuable news space, By my calculation $1300 a day, devoted to such things as the imaginary left lane law and Fluoride in the City water system.
Recall in September 2008, when Doug Clement, manager with the Russellville Water Board, said the city would stop adding fluoride. The Times Daily went on a rant and absolutely called the city fathers idiots. This resulted in such a public outcry that the motion was tabled indefinitely. If not for the influence of the Times Daily editorial staff I am pretty sure the measure would have passed. J.C Hester wrote a fair and rational response as well but by then the damage was done.
Now comes the Times Daily on Saturday Jan 8 2010 with a published article titled "City of Atlanta to reduce Fluoride in City water supplies". This article quotes the Environmental Protection Agency as saying "Studies found that prolonged, high intake of fluoride can increase the risk of brittle bones, fractures and crippling bone abnormalities."
Stupid when Russelville does it, but absolute genius when the entire city of Atlanta does the same thing.
Again, I could give a rip about the Russellville city water supply. I don't drink the stuff. But I do purchase drinks bottled with fluoride, My fast food comes with fluoride, as does my toothpaste and many packaged foods, which tend to concentrate all the water additives in the cooking process. Does this have anything to do with my broken hip? Depends on who you ask.
But I digress. I really care little about this debate. What I do care about is the fact that editorial space could be used to talk about corruption of our elected officials, lack of money for textbooks in our schools, problems of crime and drug abuse in our communities. All this is going on under our nose and our public spokesmen seem to be more concerned about the number of people who drive in front of them when they are in a hurry and getting in the business of our local city leaders.
Apology accepted.
Granted the story lines were complete. The grammar was correct. The punctuation precise.
It was just the complete absence of facts that seemed to get my goat.
As Kathryn Tucker Windham, Alabama's storyteller, and author of " 13 Alabama ghosts and Jeffrey", once said " You just can't tell the whole story if you stick to the facts. " Otherwise stated by a familiar family member - "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story."
But I am not sure this applies to the editorial page.
My problem child is the waste of valuable news space, By my calculation $1300 a day, devoted to such things as the imaginary left lane law and Fluoride in the City water system.
Recall in September 2008, when Doug Clement, manager with the Russellville Water Board, said the city would stop adding fluoride. The Times Daily went on a rant and absolutely called the city fathers idiots. This resulted in such a public outcry that the motion was tabled indefinitely. If not for the influence of the Times Daily editorial staff I am pretty sure the measure would have passed. J.C Hester wrote a fair and rational response as well but by then the damage was done.
Now comes the Times Daily on Saturday Jan 8 2010 with a published article titled "City of Atlanta to reduce Fluoride in City water supplies". This article quotes the Environmental Protection Agency as saying "Studies found that prolonged, high intake of fluoride can increase the risk of brittle bones, fractures and crippling bone abnormalities."
Stupid when Russelville does it, but absolute genius when the entire city of Atlanta does the same thing.
Again, I could give a rip about the Russellville city water supply. I don't drink the stuff. But I do purchase drinks bottled with fluoride, My fast food comes with fluoride, as does my toothpaste and many packaged foods, which tend to concentrate all the water additives in the cooking process. Does this have anything to do with my broken hip? Depends on who you ask.
But I digress. I really care little about this debate. What I do care about is the fact that editorial space could be used to talk about corruption of our elected officials, lack of money for textbooks in our schools, problems of crime and drug abuse in our communities. All this is going on under our nose and our public spokesmen seem to be more concerned about the number of people who drive in front of them when they are in a hurry and getting in the business of our local city leaders.
Apology accepted.
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