Herald overview: June 27

Something I’d like to do at least once or twice a week is go over a copy of The Herald and “chat” about stories that appeared on our front page, opinion page or sports/lifestyles pages. I’ll do it more when the redesign is launched … but now’s a good time to start.
Part of the reason for this blog (which hit 2,000 total views today after going online a month ago … thank you, by the way) is to talk about the newspaper I work at. We’ve got a talented young news staff here (and we’re about to announce a new reporter who we’re very excited about), and their work deserves discussion. The point in this is to get our readers talking about our paper also.
To, let’s talk about today’s paper. The obvious “controversial” story today came from writer Gordon Anderson on City Councilman Mike Stone, who owns several properties throughout Sanford, one of which has failed to meet the minimum standards set forth by the city’s Code Enforcement agency. Our newspaper was tipped off about this story earlier this week, but we felt that since Stone is A) a councilman and B) running for office this year, we wanted to make sure all sources were covered before we went with the story. Earlier this week, we ran a story on a different candidate for city council being arrested for allegedly helping a friend get his license reinstated illegally. It was his second arrest in the past few years. This was Stone’s second violation in the past two years. Read the entire story here.
Do I think having rental property fail to meet standards is as big a deal as being arrested? Absolutely not. And if Stone was not a councilman (or running for council), this would not have made our newspaper. But our elected officials are held to a higher standard, and things like this can cause voters to question whether or not Stone is fit to help run a city.
Our newspaper has agreed with a lot of Stone’s views since he was appointed to the council. Most recently, he was the one vocal councilman who stood up against the proposed business privilege tax, which our newspaper and the local Chamber of Commerce were also against. He’s also been vocal against the way the city has handled the public golf course, something else our newspaper has agreed with.
At every newspaper I’ve ever worked for, there are people who think some politicians have an “in” with the editor there or the publisher there, and at all of those papers, that’s simply not true. Yes, papers agree with some politicians more than others. But that’s why we have “Opinion” pages. Nobody’s above having “bad news” published about them.
As for the rest of the front, I really enjoyed Cassidy Culbertson’s story on Grace Chapel’s new church. I’ve not been in the church, but it’s an impressive structure from the outside. Grace built practically from the ground up after their church burned to the ground in October, 2003. The congregation has worshipped in makeshift buildings, even gymnasiums, and now they have a building they can really appreciate. It’s a good story on faith getting a congregation through the tough times, and the reward for their patience and stength. Read the entire story here.
Finally, I liked our teaser at the top today, since I’m a huge fan of The Simpsons. The Simpsons Movie comes out today, and I’m either going to see it tonight or some other night this weekend. I’ll have a full review of it at this site.
As always, your feedback is appreciated. The more comments I get on this, the more likely I’ll do it again and again.