Terre Haute News, Terre Haute, Indiana- TribStar.com

Editor's Note: Covering the flood shifts to recovery

As natural disasters go, flooding can have a long and nasty legacy. Even when the waters have receded and raging creeks and rivers are passive once again within their banks, hidden dangers — and damages — persist.
Assessing those dangers and damages to both public and private property is a major concern now, and will be for days and weeks to come. The imminent threat of severe flooding — at least for now — has subsided, but misery remains.
It will take time and patience to get a clear snapshot of the “big picture.” Only then will communities affected by the flood begin to get a solid grasp on their situations.
Important questions must be answered. What is the damage to public and private infrastructure, and what will it take to repair or replace it? For those who had insurance, will it cover their property losses? For those who had no or inadequate insurance, what now? What is the environmental impact of pollutants that escaped into the terrain during the flood? What will happen to damaged or destroyed vehicles? Will there be serious health effects from mold or bugs in structures and what is the best method to handle them? What immediate and long-term impact will the damage and destruction of homes and apartment dwellings have on the local housing market? Or on the property tax base? How hard is it to hire a contractor right now to make repairs, simple or complex?
And that’s just a start. There’s clearly lots to consider as the Wabash Valley enters the next phase of recovery.
As journalists, we are beginning to ask these questions — and many others — as we seek answers to residents’ most pressing concerns and help them gain information needed to resolve flood-related problems. It is a major challenge and we are anxious to begin addressing some of these critical issues.
(Readers will see the first results of our efforts Sunday when we publish a story by veteran reporter Sue Loughlin on facts and fallacies concerning flood insurance.)
As readers, you can help by letting us know your questions and concerns, or even by helping us answer those questions by giving us direction on obtaining accurate information.
Contact me at the e-mail address at the bottom of this column, or send a postal note to me at the Tribune-Star, P.O. Box 149, Terre Haute, IN 47808. Your input and feedback is eagerly anticipated and much appreciated.

• Fans of the comic strip Doonesbury that appears Monday through Saturday on the Opinion page and on Sundays in our stand-alone color comics section, know that author Garry Trudeau has been on an extended vacation since early spring. We have been publishing what his syndicate calls “Flashbacks” during his break.
I’m pleased to tell you that Trudeau’s vacation has ended new strips will begin appearing on Monday.
Thanks to faithful Doonesbury readers for your patience. I think you’ll find Trudeau’s new work has been worth the wait.
• Tribune-Star readers have undoubtedly noticed a new byline in our newspages in recent weeks. DeAntae Prince, a native of the Chicago area, is serving a summer internship here, and we are thrilled to have him with us.
DeAntae will be a senior this fall at Indiana University-Bloomington, where he is pursuing his bachelor’s degree in I.U.’s Ernie Pyle School of Journalism. He was selected one of 10 students from Indiana journalism schools this past spring to receive a Pulliam Internship through the Hoosier State Press Association.
Upon his selection by a statewide committee of editors and publishers, DeAntae was placed at the Tribune-Star and began his internship in mid-May.
He will be with us through the end of July.
Editor Max Jones can be reached at (812) 231-4336, or by e-mail at max.jones@tribstar.com.

June 13, 2008 10:39 pm

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Tribune-Star editorial: And another thing...

Blue-rays of hope
And now for something completely different … good news!!
That’s right, amid the misery of local flooding aftermath, an announcement from Tokyo early Thursday allows us to take a brief break and ponder better days ahead for our community and its economy.
Sony Corp. will be following up on its apparent victory in the video disc formatting war by expanding its DADC plant on Terre Haute’s east side. The company says it plans to create 85 new jobs, mostly good-paying engineering and related positions, while investing $113 million to expand its nearly 1 million-square-foot Blu-ray manufacturing disc facility.
With 1,180 currently employed in Terre Haute, Sony DADC has been a key part of west-central Indiana’s economic base for more than two decades. It represents a successful partnership investment by the company with state and local governments that has stood the test of time.
With the jobs losses Vigo and surrounding counties have suffered in recent months, it’s encouraging to see an opportunity to catch up a little. Sony DADC is a strong corporate citizen and employer and it deserves the kind of attention state economic development and commerce officials are giving it to ensure a vibrant and competitive future.
How sweet it is!
A source of badly needed good cheer in Terre Haute was not only provided by Sony DADC’s expansion news on Thursday. Spirits were high, and the sweet food was superb, at the 20th annual Strawberry Festival sponsored by First Congregational Church.
The crowds of people partaking of various strawberry-inspired libations were large and steady throughout the day, which most likely means it was another successful festival for the downtown church.
Bouquets go out today to church officials and members who worked so hard to put on the festival again this year, and to all the volunteers who pitch in yearly to ensure that the small church congregation can handle demands of the ever-popular event.
Their efforts are appreciated.

June 12, 2008 04:29 pm

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Tribune-Star editorial: Rain down some kindness

Since Saturday, when flash flooding became more than the usual National Weather Service warning for much of Indiana and Illinois, we’ve all heard and seen inspirational stories:
Emergency teams and utility crews working 24/7; selfless volunteers sandbagging or pulling total strangers from submerged houses; families who have lost their homes and possessions reminding us through tears of relief that “things can be replaced, but people can’t.”
As Monday’s unwelcome storms made clear, though, we are going to need a fairly large supply of inspiration — and compassion, altruism, benefit of the doubt and patience — to carry us through the coming days. For whatever reasons, it’s the Midwest’s turn in the weather barrel right now, and we are all in it together.
When nature pays no heed to our needs or prayers, there is a tendency among weary and frustrated humans to look for someone to blame.
Who didn’t fund fortification of this levee? Why wasn’t that combined sewer overflow system completed on time? What contractor signed off on this apartment complex design? How come that Realtor didn’t tell us we might live on a flood plain? Why did our neighbor cut down all those trees last year? And what the heck is the federal government doing?
Understandable as such bad feelings may be, we can’t really afford them, at least until the forecast is for several days in a row of sunshine and cloudless skies.
The extreme weather of late-spring 2008 is hurting almost everyone to some degree or another. The fact that it coincides with record-high fuel prices and rising food costs only intensifies the misery and anxiety.
In order not to make matters worse, let’s all try to remember that almost everyone has been affected. Those of us who’ve escaped ruined basements or entire houses need to look around and make a point of trying to help those who weren’t so lucky.
If you can, write a check to the Red Cross or another relief agency. Find out who needs donated clothing and household goods (and where you can take them). Offer rides to neighbors whose cars are disabled. Take in a pet that’s not allowed in emergency housing. Maybe even open up the guest room to save someone a motel bill.
There will be plenty of time for blame and finger pointing when the storms stop. Until then, let’s give one another what nature is withholding — a break.

June 10, 2008 12:13 am

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EDITOR'S NOTE Sounding the bell for those who hear different drummer

Are there any bagpipers out there? If so, please take a deep breath and step forward.
How about folksy musicians who employ “front-porch” instruments to play or accompany their favorite tunes? Here’s a chance to come down from the porch and show off what you do and how you do it.
The Wabash Valley has an impressive corps of talented musicians. Whatever their chosen musical style or instrument, they each make a significant contribution to community culture.
We are fond of featuring musicians in the pages of the Tribune-Star, where you can often read about their exploits and see their photographic images. It’s common to see them pictured with their guitars, pianos, drums, or classical instruments such as violins, brass or woodwind instruments.
But it occurred to us recently that there is a whole world of exotic, off-beat musical instruments out there that rarely get heard from, talked about or featured on our pages. So we decided to do something about it.
A couple of weeks ago we began publishing an advertisement in the newspaper asking readers who own or play exotic instruments to contact us. We’d like to include them in an upcoming feature story.
We’ve receive a half-dozen responses so far with instruments ranging from the harp to the banjo. That’s a good start. But we suspect there are more out there.
Anyone own and play a mandolin? An accordion? And, of course, don’t forget the ever-popular bagpipes.
Percussion instruments would be fun to feature, items such as the bodhran (Irish drum), bongos, washboard or spoons.
And there is surely a whole orchestra of folk instruments around. Maybe a washtub bass? Alto recorder? Penny whistle? How about a juice harp? Or a harmonica?
If you have an instrument you think we might be interested in and would like to participate, please contact us. Mark Bennett, our feature writer/columnist, is working on the story. Send
Mark an e-mail at mark.bennett@tribstar.com, or give him a call at (812) 231-4377.

• • •
Speaking of Mark Bennett …
Mark was recently named Feature Writer of the Year by CNHI, the Tribune-Star’s parent company. In addition to a substantial monetary award, he was presented an impressive wall plaque by the company.
CNHI’s annual contest is extremely competitive. It is open to all of its 98 daily newspapers and 100-plus weekly publications. The Tribune-Star competes against newspapers with paid circulations above 12,000. The T-S circulation is approximately 25,000.
The award represents outstanding recognition for Mark’s exemplary work on behalf of our readers. We’re proud of Mark’s accomplishment and congratulate him.
• • •
I have more awards news:
The Tribune-Star won five awards — four of them for first place — in the annual Indiana Associated Press Managing Editor’s Newswriting and Photojournalism Contest. The awards were announced last Saturday during the annual Indiana APME Awards Banquet in Indianapolis.
The awards went to:
• Stephanie Salter, first place, editorial writing.
• Stephanie also won first place in the feature series category for three columns she wrote about changes in the Amber Alert system in wake of the kidnap and killing of a Terre Haute boy.
• Chad Steenerson, first place, headline writing.
• Joseph C. Garza, first place, sports photography.
• Joe also won third place in the multiple picture group category of the photo contest.
Hearty congratulations to Stephanie, Chad and Joe.

Jones can be reached at (812) 231-4336, or by e-mail at max.jones@tribstar.com.

May 23, 2008 07:26 pm
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EDITOR'S NOTE: T-S staff excels in annual contest for journalism

The Tribune-Star got some very good news recently when the Indiana Society of Professional Journalists conducted its annual newspaper contest awards banquet in Indianapolis.
Six of our journalists were honored with awards for work they did during 2007. In all, the T-S won 10 awards, six of them for first place, in a variety of categories spanning the array of content we generate on behalf of our legions of readers.
Our newspaper competes in the SPJ contest with other newspapers around the state with paid circulations of 40,000 or less. The Tribune-Star’s circulation is approximately 25,000 Monday through Saturday, 28,000 on Sunday.
Here is the list of our award winners:
• First place — Chad Steenerson, copy editor, for news headlines.
• First place — David Hughes, reporter, for sports reporting. The honored article was a feature David produced about Erica Sell, a Terre Haute South softball player who is recovering from leukemia.
• First place — Mark Bennett, columnist and feature writer, for the best lifestyle feature. Bennett’s article was titled “Rediscovering Summer of Love” and was about how that pivotal year in our history affected America’s small towns.
• First place — Stephanie Salter, assistant editor, for criminal justice reporting. Her winning entry was a series of columns Stephanie wrote about how Amber Alert guidelines changed in the wake of the kidnapping and death of a Terre Haute child.
• First place — Zach Taylor, news editor, for feature page design.
• First place — Jason Koch, copy editor, and Taylor, for best informational graphics.
• Second place — Bennett, for best personality profile.
• Second place — Steenerson, for feature headlines.
• Third place — Koch, for page 1 design.
• Third place — Koch, for news headlines.
This was an exceptional showing by the newsroom staff, one of the best ever in this contest.
Doing well in contests, of course, is not our primary goal. Serving readers with accurate, relevant news and information about their community is our chief goal.
Newspaper contests such as this, however, give our journalists an opportunity to see how they measure up to their peers, and gives them recognition for excellent work they produce. They also serve as a good motivational and instructional tool to help us get better.
I’m proud of our staff’s accomplishments in this contest and believe readers are as well.
• • •
If you sent a letter about election politics to Readers’ Forum in the final days of the primary campaign, it’s unlikely it was published. That’s unfortunate. I wish we could have published all the good letters we received. Unfortunately, the volume of election-related letters, most of which focused on the Democratic presidential race, was so heavy that we did not have the staff resources or space to handle them.
We will try to devise a plan to handle these types of letters in a more timely fashion during the fall general election, even if it means publishing some of the letters in our online edition if we don’t have the space for them all in our print edition.

Jones can be reached at (812) 231-4336, or by e-mail at max.jones@tribstar.com.

May 09, 2008 09:02 pm
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Max Jones: Evolving with an industry — and with our readers

Newspapers, it is said, are living, breathing organisms that reflect the times in which they exist and the values of the communities they serve. In order to meet the changing needs and wants of their wide and diverse audience of readers, newspapers must evolve right along with them.
Some phases of a newspaper’s evolution can be dramatic, such as a major redesign in the appearance and organization of both content and presentation. Others are subtle adjustments that occur constantly without notice from most readers.
Then there are those middle phases that are more noticeable, although have only minor, if any, impact on readers. One of those came about this week when the Tribune-Star reduced the width of the single printed page by one-half inch to 111/2 inches.
Page size reductions have been an industry-wide trend in recent years. The price of newsprint — the term for the paper we print on — has been rising steadily, so newspaper companies have reduced page sizes in an effort to control that sizable expense.
In addition to the physical changes in your newspaper, we also initiated content and organizational adjustments this week. One has to do with the repositioning to Page A3 of a few types of local news that our readers find essential. These items, formerly scattered throughout the paper, mostly involve police, fire and court news, as well as calendars and vital statistics. The page will carry the header “In Touch … with the Wabash Valley”.
Another change involves a redesign of section headers (those typographical elements at the top a cover page that labels the section’s content, such as Business or School Zone).
The final change is designed to streamline and improve the process of reporting errors to our newsroom. Readers will now find a detailed explanation of how to report errors to us on Page A2 each day.
Here is what it says:
The Tribune-Star’s journalists and content handlers strive to be accurate and fair in all phases of reporting, writing, photography and presentation. We correct errors as soon as possible.
To report an error:
• In obituaries — call (812) 231-4223. If you are connected to voicemail, please leave your name, phone number and brief message describing the error. An obituary clerk will return your call. The obituary desk is staffed daily, including weekends, from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. E-mail: obituary@
tribstar.com.
• In news stories — You may contact the news reporter directly (phone numbers and e-mail addresses are usually posted at the end of an article), or Assistant Editor Susan Duncan at (812) 231-4333, susan.duncan@
tribstar.com.
• In sports stories — You may contact the sports reporter directly (phone numbers and e-mail addresses are usually posted at the end of an article), or Sports Editor Todd Golden at (812) 231-4272, todd.golden@tribstar.com. Sports Department e-mail: sports@tribstar.com.
• In calendars, event listings and community news briefs — Contact community@tribstar.com, or Community News Editor Sheila TerMeer at (812) 231-4221, sheila.termeer@tribstar.com.
• If you want to make a general comment about the accuracy or fairness of any of our news stories, photographs, headlines, story selections and placement, or editorials, please contact Editor Max Jones at (812) 231-4336, max.jones@tribstar.com.
• • •
As always, I welcome questions, comments and suggestions about these changes to your newspaper. When a newspaper evolves, it must do so with its readers and customers in mind. Feedback is key for us as we move forward and look for ways to improve and meet reader needs.

Jones can be reached at (812) 231-4336, or by e-mail at max.jones@tribstar.com.

April 04, 2008 10:12 pm
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New twist in covering Vigo County politics

“I don’t belong to any organized party: I am a Democrat.”
— Will Rogers
That piece of cowboy wisdom was not, of course, inspired by the current state of affairs in Vigo County’s Democratic Party. But it could have been.
One need not be an astute observer of local politics to know that the Democratic Party infrastructure here is cracked and fragmented. It’s been that way for a long time. What has happened in the past 18 months, however, makes traditional partisan wars between Democrats and Republicans pale in terms of overt tension and hostility.
The fundamental split has little to do with political philosophy and much to do with loyalties and allegiances to party factions and figureheads. The main factions of the party today center around two individuals — Bob Wright and Joe Anderson. Both are longtime attorneys and have enjoyed varying degrees of political success. Wright has been prosecutor. Anderson was a judge. Both have served as chairmen of the county’s Democratic Central Committee.
There have even been times when these men and their factions were allies, although that has certainly not been the case in recent election cycles.
Mostly, these rival factions have done battle only during party primaries. That all changed in 2006 when Wright stepped aside as prosecutor and he gave his support to deputy prosecutor Sarah Mullican. She won the hotly contested primary over several candidates. But this time the party did not close ranks behind her. Instead, some of the defeated Democrat candidates and their supporters publicly backed Republican Terry Modessit, who ultimately won in the general election.
The public split emerged again last year in the Terre Haute mayoral race. Incumbent Mayor Kevin Burke, who was seen as aligned with the Wright faction, won handily in the primary over Jim Horrall, the Anderson faction’s candidate. Rather than heal the rift for the general election, the Anderson faction joined with other anti-Burke forces in the community to openly back Republican Duke Bennett, who rode the unlikely coalition to a narrow victory in the general election.
Then things got really interesting.
One of the visible Democrats opposing Burke — and supporting Bennett — was attorney Mike Ellis, an Anderson ally. When the Democratic Central Committee took action to remove Mike Ellis as its secretary because of his perceived party disloyalty, he resigned his post and formed a new club, the FDR Democrat Club, to act as chief rival to the official Democratic Party.
And that brings us to a new primary season in which voters not only must size up candidates based on experience and qualifications, but also assess their alliances to political factions.
As a news organization with the responsibility of covering local politics and trying to make sense out of this on behalf of our readers, the ongoing battle for control of the Democratic Party presents unique reporting challenges. How best to approach the issue is something yet to be determined, and feedback from readers would be a valuable tool for us.
A fundamental question is, do you as readers and potential voters want to know the faction with which a candidate is aligned, if any? Or does any of this “political insider” stuff really matter to you?
Some political alliances will be obvious. Others will be less so. And there will be candidates who try to walk a fine line between the factions so as not to be seen as aligning themselves either way. How should the newspaper best explain this complex political landscape so that it is relevant to readers?
Bottom line, readers should be able to get what they want and need from our news coverage of local politics and elections. And they should get it delivered to them in a manner they view as accurate, complete, fair and in proper context.
I invite your comments.
Jones can be reached at (812) 231-4336, or by e-mail at max.jones@tribstar.com.

March 03, 2008 09:30 am
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Editor's Note: Teaming up to help readers understand Indiana’s tax issues

Being part of a national newspaper ownership group has its benefits. CNHI (Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc.) has been the Tribune-Star’s parent company since the fall of 2000, and included in its group are a number of other daily newspapers in Indiana, including the Kokomo Tribune, the Herald Bulletin in Anderson, the News and Tribune of Jeffersonville and New Albany, the Logansport Pharos-Tribune, the Lebanon Reporter, and the Goshen News.
Recently, a small group of editors from CNHI’s Indiana properties embarked on a project to focus on the state’s ongoing property tax crisis and how it will impact the upcoming session of the Indiana General Assembly.
The Tribune-Star teamed up with editors at Kokomo, Anderson, Jeffersonville/New Albany and Lebanon to produce the written content, photographs and graphics for the three-day series that will begin on Sunday.
The Herald Bulletin produced the material for Sunday’s Part 1, while the Kokomo Tribune produced Part 2, scheduled for Monday. The Tribune-Star was responsible for Part 3, which will appear in Tuesday’s newspaper. The News and Tribune of Jeffersonville/New Albany created the artwork to accompany the series, both in print and online.
The series has been made available to all of CNHI Indiana’s daily and weekly newspapers. It is expected to get wide play throughout the state.
In addition to news content, our team produced editorials to run each day of the series. Even two original editorial cartoons were crafted to accompany the editorial series.
The Tribune-Star will publish most of the content generated for series. Part 1 details how Indiana’s system of taxation and government evolved — or failed to evolve — over the past 100-plus years. Part 2 explains how the 2007 property tax crisis triggered calls for local government reform. Part 3 focuses on the various legislative proposals on the table as the General Assembly convenes on Tuesday.
The series provides a wealth of information on a major topic of interest for Hoosiers. We commend it to readers’ attention. As always, we would very appreciate your feedback.
• • •
We need to set the record straight on a photograph published on Page A1 of last Saturday’s Tribune-Star (Dec. 29). The large photo, showing Terre Haute’s Mayor-elect Duke Bennett shaking hands with outgoing Mayor Kevin Burke, generated numerous comments from readers, who found the photo both compelling and entertaining because of the strained expressions on the faces of its subjects.
The photo appeared to show a spontaneous action on the part of Burke and Bennett, and we presented it as such.
Subsequently, it came to my attention, and the attention of other senior editors, that the content of the photo was not spontaneous. In fact, the handshake took place following a suggestion to Burke by our newspaper’s photographer.
Had we known that the action in the photo occurred at the suggestion of our photographer, we would have used the photo differently, if at all. If it had been used, we would have explained in the photo’s caption that it was, in effect, a posed scene.
It is not uncommon for us to publish some types of feature or documentary photos in which the photographer heavily influences the scene. In most cases, the nature of those kinds of photos is obvious to readers. When it’s not obvious, it is our practice to explain that.
We did not do that in this case, and I feel it is important that readers know the truth behind the creation of this particular photo.

Max Jones can be reached via e-mail at max.jones@tribstar.com.

January 04, 2008 04:17 pm
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Editor's Note: Tribune-Star staffers compete well for state honors

Each year, the Hoosier State Press Association conducts what it calls a “Better Newspaper Contest” in which Indiana newspapers of similar sizes compete in a broad range of journalistic categories from news reporting, feature writing, sports writing, page design and photography. There are even categories for Web sites and related content.
When newspapers choose to enter such contests, they do so because it gives them an opportunity to compete with their peers and see where they stack up.
When the Tribune-Star enters the HSPA contest, we are putting our work up against some of the best newspapers in a state with some very good newspapers. Our division is for newspapers with paid circulations of between 18,000 and 40,000. Among our chief competitors are the Herald-Times in Bloomington, The Journal and Courier in Lafayette, the Star-Press in Muncie, and newspapers in Columbus, Anderson, Kokomo, Elkhart, Marion and Fort Wayne.
Awards for 2007 were announced last weekend at a banquet in Indianapolis, and I am proud to report that the Tribune-Star once again did well. We brought home seven awards in all, three of them for first place.
Here is a rundown of this year’s T-S awards:
First Place
Headline Writing — Chad Steenerson, a copy editor here for the past six years, has earned a reputation as one of the most talented headline writers in the state. His first-place award this year was not his first. In fact, he is the perennial winner in this category in the HSPA contest, as well as other statewide contests. Chad is a skilled wordsmith who has a unique ability to capture the essence of news and feature stories and write headlines for them that are often bright and witty.
Sports Event Coverage — Todd Golden, sports editor, and Tom James, sports correspondent, won top prize for their excellent coverage of the Indianapolis Colts’ Super Bowl victory last February. Todd and Tom made for a great team as they trekked to Miami and supplied our readers for an entire week with some of the best coverage of the Super Bowl provided by any news organization anywhere.
Sports News or Feature Coverage — David Hughes, a veteran sports reporter, captured top prize for his poignant feature story about Erica Sell, a student at Terre Haute South Vigo who was fighting cancer while still playing softball for her high school’s team. David’s story was among the best stories published by the Tribune-Star all year, so we’re pleased that he received such high recognition for his work in the HSPA contest.
Second Place
News Coverage with No Deadline Pressure by a Team — This team award goes to our reporting staff, headed by Assistant Editor Susan Duncan, for outstanding work covering the canonization of St. Mother Theodore Guerin in October 2006. This event carried a high degree of interest for our readers, and the staff rallied to produce high quality work over a sustained period.
Use of Graphics — Zach Taylor, news editor, and Elizabeth Goodman, a former copy editor and page designer, teamed up to capture this honor. Zach produced eye-popping photo illustrations for his portion of the entry, while Elizabeth’s contribution was an excellent timeline graphic on St. Mother Theodore Guerin.
Third Place
Ongoing News Coverage — Mark Bennett, feature writer and columnist, was honored for his inspired work while in Rome for the Guerin canonization. Covering a major story in a foreign country is no easy task, even for a seasoned professional like Mark. His work was top-notch, and he is most deserving of this award.
Web site — Producing a superb online edition requires vision and execution. A lot of people contribute, but I particularly want to commend Shaun Hussey, Web developer, James Willis, copy editor, and Sheila TerMeer, community news editor, for the time, care and attention they give to this increasingly important newspaper function.
Congratulations to this year’s winners. Their work has made us proud.
The Tribune-Star and its readers are blessed with a talented, hard-working and productive staff of journalists who time and again rally to the cause of creating a daily newspaper that meets the needs of a large, diverse audience. I feel privileged to work among them.

December 07, 2007 07:32 pm
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Editor's Note: ’07 election letters reflected intensity

Our readers love to write letters, and election politics is one of their favorite subjects.
The recent epic mayoral tussle produced a virtual flood of submissions. Emotions ran high in many of the narratives. Election results showed voters almost evenly divided over this race, so it’s no surprise that the volume of letters received and published reflected a high degree of intensity.
Letters about the election began to trickle in during late September, with the flow increasing steadily in mid-October and becoming heavy in late October. In all, we devoted far more space to election-related letters this year than ever before.
What’s more, by using our online edition at www.tribstar.com, we were able to publish more last-minute letters than in previous elections. All printed space allocated for letters through Monday, election eve, had been filled by Friday, Nov. 2. Letters that arrived via e-mail after 6 p.m. that day and throughout last weekend were posted on our Web site by Monday morning.
Unfortunately, type-written or hand-written letters that arrived past that point could not be used because we simply did not have the time to re-type and process them for publication. There were approximately 15 of those, with about 10 endorsing Duke Bennett (almost all of those came in one packet dropped off at our front desk Monday morning), and the others endorsing Kevin Burke.
Ordinarily we don’t publish political letters on Election Day. I made an exception to that practice this year when City Council Member Todd Nation submitted an e-mail letter over the weekend addressing his unauthorized inclusion in the Democrats for Duke flier attacking Mayor Burke.
Why did I make that exception? Nation was unopposed in his race, so he gained no advantage. His letter did not endorse or attack any other candidate. It did sharply criticize the Democrats For Duke mailer produced and distributed by Joe Selliken, calling it a “disservice” to all political candidates and to the community. Nation wanted voters to know that he did not endorse the tactics used, even though Selliken and his associates had included him in its mailing. It was a newsworthy letter on an important subject that arose in the waning moments of the election. It deserved to be published in a timely fashion.
Of course, some of those dishing the dirt in that mailing were offended by Nation’s letter and my decision to use it on Election Day. No surprise, really. They thought they had a free shot at their target for which they would not be held accountable. They did not like it a bit when that turned out not to be the case. So be it.

Bouquets
• To all those who took the opportunity to exercise their cherished right to vote in Tuesday’s municipal election. While voter turnout was light at 30 percent, those who did cast ballots are to be commended for their efforts.
• To Terre Haute North Vigo High School graduate Nate Blank for getting his college basketball career off to a great start with his team, Gardner-Webb, winning twice this week. The biggest victory was against powerhouse Kentucky in Lexington. Blank scored 12 points in that monumental upset.

You can say that again
“I think, obviously, when you have change in progress, you’re going to rub someone the wrong way, and I think that’s probably what [Mayor Kevin] Burke did. And a lot of times that’s hard to overcome, depending on who you rub the wrong way.”
— Ann Murphy of Terre Haute commenting on the results of Tuesday’s municipal election

November 09, 2007 03:53 pm
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