Viewpoint: Isn’t It Great to be Heard?

?? In this week’s paper, on page 6, you will find the most recent data gleaned from the people who re-subscribe to the View and offer opinions on what they like, don’t like, would like to see more of, or want to see less of.

?? Over the course of our 15 years as owners of the paper, much of what people have asked for has become part of the newspaper. Lori compiles the information, and I love reading it. Of course, sometimes the same things always show up. On occasion, I take Viewpoint space to comment on certain items. This week I will endeavor to do that and, perhaps, answer some of the more common concerns. I have no idea who wrote each of these, so I am not picking on you.

?? ?I’m going to start with one that isn’t on the list. The entire staff of the Greenhorn Valley View is made up of my wife, myself and writer/reporter Shirley Pigg. There are other writers who contribute on a regular basis. One area most difficult to fill are pictures of the Rye High School athletes. We have no regular photographer and each year I appeal to the coaches to send me pictures. And, if they notice a parent who takes pictures, to invite them to send them our way.

?? This spring, the soccer coach and a parent from the golf team were excellent about getting us photos. One baseball fan gave us permission to pick up pictures from her Facebook page, and no one came forward from the track team.

?? ?So, after the three Rye youngsters who went to state in track all finished in the top 10, we covered them, thoroughly, but never had a track picture all year long. A mildly upset family member of one of the three sent us a picture and gave us a gentle complaint about having pictures of the other sports but not track. We were grateful for the picture and ran it the following week. and hopefully now they understand why we hadn’t run any track pictures.

?? ?One reader commented that they wished the paper could be a daily. I will refer you back to the size of our staff. In order to pay for more staff, we would need higher subscription prices, which of course could be justified for a daily and more advertisers. Printing is by far the highest cost we have each week. To take that times seven it would require seven times more income. It would also require cloning, the two and a half of us that work for the paper.

?? ?But the compliment was appreciated.

?? Several readers wanted less religious material and one reader suggested that we quit publishing Letters to the Editor. In our minds, Freedom of Religion and Freedom of the Speech are pretty big deals; and even when we print letters that we are annoyed by, we do so because the opportunity for people to express their opinions seems pretty important.

?? As we’ve stated before, we try to keep the majority of the paper focused on the local community. Over the years we have heard numerous times that police and fire reports should be local, only. The problem with that is simple. There is very little crime and, thankfully, very few fires. When there are we report it. When we have exhausted local copy for the week, we do try to use the most interesting things we can find from Pueblo County.

?? ?Bottom line, we appreciate all of your input. Over the years, changes have been made because of readers’ input. Some were big and some small, and some things will never be changed while we own the paper.

?? Recently, we’re happy to see that the number of people who say they like the paper far outnumber those who say they don’t. Isn’t it great to have a voice; and know someone listens?

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