This job can get a little crazy and stressful (not how long it's been since the last blog post).
This week (and it’s only Tuesday), there’s must have been
a full moon because it’s been non-stop crazy.
I’ve had to explain and justify why I won’t remove items
from the police blotter (the pot wasn’t his, he was holding it for a friend)
including why it’s wrong to bribe me to do so.
I’ve had to explain and justify why the community
calendar contains only community events. Hell, an Elvis convention in Pasadena
could justify that there are people in small town middle America here that
would have an interest in attending — that doesn’t mean it goes in this
hyper-local newspaper.
An ad for a local bar was next to an ad for a day care on
the page with the school bus schedule and back-to-school information.
It’s just been one thing after another. But the latest
thing was crazy only in the sense that it’s not the norm.
I posted a blog on my newspaper’s website Monday
afternoon reminding people of the primary election the next day, how some races
would be decided by the primary because of no one from the other party is on
the ballot and listed the coverage our newspaper has had of candidates the past
two months.
A little after 4 p.m. the next day, election day, a woman
came to the newspaper office to read the election coverage that spanned several
editions. She had gone to the polls and upon seeing the ballot she exited the
voting both without casting her ballot. There were too many names she didn’t
recognize. Remembering my blog, which she saw via a link posted on Facebook,
she came to the newspaper office.
With less than three hours until the polls closed she
perused through the newspapers to catch up. We didn’t charge her the 75 cents
per edition and stayed open a few minutes past 5 p.m. to let her read.
Most people will either not vote for those candidate or
select them at random. Because of the local newspaper, however, this woman took
time to be an informed, responsible voter.
Despite all the chaos a small town newspaper editor/reporter sees, it’s the little things like that sometimes that make this job worth it.
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