Someone referred to my little weekly column as a “bully pulpit” in a recent letter to the editor. As I stand proudly wearing my black robe of journalism justice, I will share some discussion, investigation and concern from another week of being a small part of your fine community.
It appears that my comments concerning our policy of “letters to the editor” rubbed a few people the wrong way. Resorting to abusive name calling in your letters will prohibit your letter from getting published. If you are going to state your opinions and concerns over Tyrone borough government, community projects or anything else, we welcome you! However there is no law the requires us to publish any letter and it’s not a freedom of speech issue. We learned this as children, if you play by the rules, you will be allowed to continue in the game. Surely we can all express our viewpoints without a personal attack. Also remember while growing up “if you have nothing nice to say, then don’t say anything at all”.
In a late 1999 or early 2000 “From the Mayors Desk” column, Mayor Pat Stoner is quoted as saying “Council is committed to keeping the ball rolling on the Sustainable Streets project and the funding that has been committed to us, because the plain, simple fact is “if you don’t use it, you will lose it”. She went on to say “The recent hold up seemed to have been that we could not come up with the funding for design and engineering for the project. The good news is that we can now use our CDBG funds for engineering and design”. There was no lying and as her column indicated two years ago, the design and engineering was going to come from CDBG funding. Why now has this become such an issue? Did people not attend the meetings when this was discussed years ago? Did you not read the paper then? In closing on this subject, it is a project where Tyrone was only one of five communities to secure the funding designated to improve the downtown area. And I for one think it looks very nice, and will be an asset in attracting business.
A flyer circulating in Tyrone is calling for a new possible Downtown Merchants Association. If your interested a meeting will be held on Monday night, at C and C Furniture on Tenth St. I believe that any organization that wants to unite to promote business, do promotions and bring more people in the town is a good thing. I’m going to stay behind on Monday and sit in on the meeting myself.
I’ve very proud of the progress The Daily Herald staff has been making in improving our newspaper. We have set a series of goals from now until the end of the year and so far we are hitting all of them in advance. Have you noticed that we feature color on our front page almost daily? Have you read and watched as our staff of writers have focused on three to four local stories a day? We thank all of you that have made comments to us. We continue to work hard everyday and will strive to reach our goals. And then set new ones!!
The countdown continues for the BIG Tyrone-Bellwood game on Friday, August 30th. And I knew with Tyrone alum John Harlow as our new Editor and longtime Bellwood-Antis alum Bob Miller as our new Sports Editor that the talk would be hot and heavy in our offices. It’s all in fun and gets me more hyped for this rivalry then ever. I understand that if I behave myself I will benefit from a great position to view the game. Only 21 days until the game, so let’s start the talking and showing support for the start of the football season. Keep watching as we try and add to the Tyrone football season with some new exciting promotions.
At this weeks Tyrone Borough Council meeting, a resident brought up the idea of the borough helping the YMCA through its financial crisis. I agree and I hope that there is a way to support the “Y” the right way with funding. Certainly the Board of Directors of the YMCA should ask, but they shouldn’t have to beg. In the meantime The Daily Herald is helping the “Y” with some ads announcing an upcoming public meeting set for August 13th.
Even in the 100 degree heat, My son and I enjoyed our first WTRN/YMCA day last Friday. I want to thank Cary and Ted Simpson for allowing me to go on air and do a little radio. Our chicken dinners were delicious and it was nice to meet more people so dedicated to this local YMCA.
As I finish writing this week remember that both a local paper and radio station work around the clock to bring positive news, promotions and features to any small town. But also please remember that they are also THE most powerful things in a small community. And no one from outside of our fine newspaper company CONTROLS us on anything.
Have a wonderfull weekend and thanks for reading!
