Letters pour in around election

Few things stir the emotional juices like local politics. And with early voting starting today for elected positions from Dibrell to Morrison, it?s safe to say we?re juiced in Warren County.

I always know election time has arrived when letters to the editor come pouring into my office by the dozen. As much as I enjoy receiving letters to the editor, I?m lucky to get three or four on an average week, and most of those are about bad restaurant service or some messy child custody battle.

So I know voters are about to flock to the polls when my normally modest pile of mail becomes a mountain of envelopes. It means people are anxious to tell me every bad thing a candidate has ever done in hopes of costing that person votes.

In an effort to stop those letters, I?m announcing a blanket policy that will be in effect until the election is over. The Standard will not publish letters to the editor about any candidate, his mother, or his cat until this election is over. That noise you just heard was the collective sound of people throughout Warren County putting down their pens.

But dear readers, don?t fret. If a controversy of major significance concerning a candidate should erupt, we will provide coverage on the front page of our newspaper. If not, please refrain from writing and telling me 101 reasons why you don?t like a certain person running for county court clerk.

I can bring up our recent race for county executive as the perfect example of someone trying to sabotage an election. And I can talk about it without reservations since John Pelham has already been elected county executive by beating incumbent Kenneth Rogers in May.

The gist of the story is that a local business owner was mad at Rogers and wanted a negative story printed about him two days before the election. My, oh my, what a coincidence. I?m sure this person had absolutely no idea what he was doing.

This person claimed Kenneth was being mean and taking action against him because he had refused to put a Kenneth Rogers sign in front of his business. All of this seemed rather ridiculous to me, even if an election was just days away. And I certainly wasn?t going to blast our county executive in the newspaper for some ridiculous he-said, she-said story that was probably exaggerated in the first place.

So we took the stance that if it was such a breaking news story two days before the election, it would certainly still be a story the day after the election. But a funny thing happened. The person had no interest in having the story published after the election. If it didn?t cost Kenneth a few votes, this person?s sense of duty to the community to ?do the right thing? was not long such a driving force.

I really got a kick from a letter to the editor I received yesterday that said, ?I realize that I am likely to suffer personal and professional repercussions for writing this letter, but I feel that the public needs to know the truth.?

Wow, what a concerned citizen we have among us. It?s a person who really cares about our town. It?s a person willing to take one for the team, to stand up for justice even if it means personal ruin.

It?s also a person trying to cost a particular candidate the election. Somehow they don?t seem like such a hero when you put it that way.

It?s with all that in mind, I?m asking readers to refrain from writing nasty political letters until Aug. 4. I realize this is a difficult request for so many folks wanting to do what?s best for our community.

James Clark is editor of the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191 or by e-mail at [email protected].