I HATE OUR LOCAL NEWSPAPER: liberal, refuse to report important news in our small town

Old Lady ^ | Old Lady | Old Lady

[Old Lady]

I hate our local newspaper, the Gettysburg Times, I HATE them! They're awful! Gettysburg is a small town, and the Republican Headquarters has been vandalized at least three times -- windows broken with beer bottles the night of the presidential debate, shot at with pellet guns, and the latest incident on the windows griffiti that could be interpreted as a death threat (unclear writing, but included DEATH TI (or TO) PU).

Do you know how many time this has been on the front page of the paper, or the second page, or appeared as a regular article? NONE! NO TIMES!! The incidents have been reported as tiny pieces in the police/crime section, buried in the back of the paper.

Do you know what's on the front of the paper today? A photo of fall vegetables, while this story -- in a tiny town -- of the ongoing vandalism of the GOP Hdgrtrs buried in the back.

I've called and written several letters to the editor, but the letters are never published. 99 percent of the letters published are pro-Kerry.

My next door neighbor is in her 80's, has lived in Gettysburg over 50 years and says she is shocked by the vandalism, that she never thought something like this could happen in this little town.

Whatever happened to the journalistic code of ethics where if you work for a newspaper, you are supposed to be neutral and just report the news, the real news, no matter who it offends?

I hate our local paper! They're awful!

[Old Lady]

I also forgot to say that my elderly neighbor did not know about the vandalism until my husband and I told her about it, because she never saw it in the paper.

[MEG33]

We are making a list!

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1236613/posts

[Old Lady]

Thanks for letting me know. I posted two other articles about the vandalism here in Gettysburg, and has to post this to get my anger at our local paper out of my system. God, they're an awful paper.

[MEG33]

If you will provide a link to the crime beat/police reports, that would be great.

[zygoat]

You could go to Heraldmail.com. It's a Hagerstown paper, not too far from you. We have had a lot of sign stealing and vandalism here also. You should e-mail a letter describing what is taking place in Gettysburg. They will print it in the opinion section. They have always printed mine.(Even the one where I stated that the Jackass is the perfect symbol for the dem party.)

[Old Lady]

It's not on their website where you could access it -- you can see the main articles at www.gettysburgtimes -- the front page article about adding new classrooms to an elementary school in Biglerville -- but the crime/police column is not on the web UNLESS YOU PAY for an online subscription (and I would have to pay separately, they do not count my regular subscription, plus every viewer would have to pay). The mention of the vandalism is at the bottom of the police & fire column, below two articles: how many calls the Adams County Fire Marshall's office handled in August and July 2004, and a Fire Prevention Week thing where free smoke alarms will be given out from 6:30pm to 9:30pm. Buried below these articles is the story of the vandalism, the death threat language, etc.

Somebody really has their journalistic priorities straight (/sarcasm off).

[Old Lady]

Thanks for the info -- I will try to do that later today, maybe also write to the papers in other local towns such as the Hanover Sun.

[Old Lady]

Copy of a letter we sent this morning:

Dear Editor:

The GOP headquarters here in Gettysburg has been vandalized at least three times, by pellet gun, by beer bottles thrown through a plate glass window the night of the first presidential debate, and with threatening graffiti written on the windows. Why has your newspaper consistently buried this major news for a small town? Our Bush/Cheney signs were stolen the night of the presidential debate, and we walked into the vandalized Gettysburg GOP office when we went to get replacement signs. We saw the huge hole in the window and shattered glass all over the floor. The office worker who is six months pregnant was close to tears, worried about her safety and the safety of her baby. We also saw the graffiti Sunday morning.

The news about the latest vandalism is buried again at the bottom of the Police & Fire column, under a headline about Fire Prevention Week.

The vandalism is major news in Gettysburg, yet you bury it. Would you have done the same thing if vandals smashed the windows of the Kerry/Edwards headquarters the night of the presidential debate, shot at their windows with pellet guns and wrote threatening graffiti?

Many of us conservatives here in Gettysburg notice your favoritism toward Kerry and your bias toward Bush, in your articles and the letters to the editor, where you bury conservative articles and letters at the bottom of the page.

It is very strange that since Adams County votes 3-to-1 Republican that most of the letters that show up in your paper are pro-Democrat. I know that people in my family and neighbors have written about this vandalism and we've never seen them in print.

Whatever happened to the old journalistic code of ethics where people who worked for a newspaper were proud of their neutrality, and were determined to print the real news, no matter who it offended? How sad for Gettysburg that the local paper has an agenda.

Sincerely,

[backhoe]

Thanks, MEG33!

[More Than Words]

Wow, what an opportunity for a competitor to step in. I bet if you just got a small two sided 8 1/2 x 11 newsletter distributed throughout the town on a weekly basis. It could make as big a splash as the Swift Boat Veterans TV ads.

[GOP_1900AD]

We The People of the United States of America call
upon the Governors of all 50 states to station
National Guard troops to protect all political party
headquarters in each state's major metropolitan areas.
For headquarters in smaller areas, and headquarters
which are more limited facilities, we call upon the
governors to station highway patrol, state police, or
state troopers. We call upon the Mayor of the District
of Columbia to coordinate with the applicable
protective agencies as well. All parties on the
ballot should receive the appropriate protection based
on the size of the metro area they are in and the size
of the facility. If warranted, similar measures should
be put in place to protect the polling places on
Election Day.

Orders to guardsmen and law enforcement officers to
shoot-to-kill upon any mob attack should be issued.

Failure to take such actions should be considered
gross incompetence.

In order to address the possibility that the recent
attacks on headquarters of political parties are a
diversion in advance of acts of terrorism or war, we
also call upon the governors to activate their state
militias and if need be to deputize selected citizens
as special reserve state law enforcement officers.
Where state militias and deputation statutes do not
yet exist, we call upon the affected governors to
sponsor such legislation as is needed in order to
instate the applicable mechanisms.

In God We Trust.