Seldom did a day go by during the last two months when that blinking red light on the telephone wasn’t there to say good morning. But Friday marked the second straight day of a blackout, signaling the election was officially over.
The queries touched on everything from politics to sports. An apology goes out to those who may not have received a return call yet.
Below are answers to some of your questions:
Q: Why would The Lima News devote the entire front section of the Nov. 3 newspaper to President Barack Obama’s visit to Lima?
No one has to remind us this is a conservative area politically. After all, our reporters are the ones who inform you that Republican presidential candidates have not only won big in Allen and surrounding counties, but they typically do so by large margins (Some areas reported 2-to-1 margins in 2000, 2004, 2008 and again this year).
That’s what we do — report the news.
And like it or not, Obama’s visit to Lima was big news in this community. It’s not every day a sitting U.S. president visits Lima, Ohio. When it happens, the newspaper should be expected to cover it thoroughly through words and photographs, and the presentation of the news report should reflect the magnitude of the event.
Such coverage also fits with a newspaper’s role of being a recorder of history. What we did for Obama’s visit was in line with what we did for President George W. Bush when he visited here in 2003 and 2008. To have done less for Obama just because this is a predominately conservative area would have been slanting the news.
That’s what's so ironic with the question in the first place. People say they don’t want us to slant the news, then they turn around and ask us to do so.
That’s not to say the media, and The Lima News, haven’t made our mistakes. We’ve taken our share of calls where we admitted our shortcomings. We’re not proud of that, but we always strive to improve.
Q: If Mitt Romney would have won, would The Lima News have published his picture as big as it did Obama’s?
Absolutely. In fact, we started the night with three front-page templates: One if Romney won; another for an Obama victory and third one being if the vote were too close to call at press time. Up until about 10:30 p.m. on Election Night, we were working on the “Too Close to Call” template.
Q; Why wasn’t my letter on the Commentary page printed exactly as I wrote it?
We do reserve the right to edit letters, but not with the intention of changing the meaning or the flavor of the author’s message. The most common reasons for editing includes tightening the sentence structure, eliminating redundancies or shortening a letter because it exceeded the 275 word limit.
It’s not unusual for a letter to receive some type of editing, nor is it unusual for a letter to be printed without changing a word.
Q: Why all the sports coverage on Lima Central Catholic?
Sports coverage is determined by wins and losses. In that regard, LCC has a lot of winning programs. It’s that simple.
ROSES AND THORNS: A few this week.
Rose: To Becky Noe, whose quick thinking saved a neighbor’s horse from a burning barn near Buckland.
Rose: To Connie Miller, who won the Shirley Daley Community Leadership Award for her work with the Lima Allen County Neighborhoods in Partnership group.
Rose: To RTH Processing and the North Central Ohio Solid Waste District for holding a free electronics waste collection site over the weekend.
Rose: Lima Mayor David Berger was quoted in an Oct. 23 Wall Street Journal editorial, noting the Environmental Protection Agency’s continued push to improve storm sewer maintenance could raise the average residents sewer bills by $539.
Rose: To the many schools and groups who held programs honoring war veterans last week.
Thorn: The road construction project on Elm Street was going to be done early, then it was backed up to its original Oct. 25 due date, and now three weeks later has yet to open.
PARTING SHOT: Some people get enough exercise just pushing their luck.
Jim Krumel is the editor of The Lima News
