[holyscroller]

The first decision to be made is, is this going to be a news-paper, an opinion-paper, or an "interpretation of the Constitutional side of things"-paper? If it's news, are we covering Washington State stuff (such as the unconstitutionality of what most of the politicians do), and if so, who is going to be the investigative reporting to ferret out the facts? If it's just opinion pieces, you've got to have dynamite headlines that jump off the pages and grab readers or they don't give a hoot what your opinion is. If it's issue based (like "should teachers strike?" we've got tons of grist for the mill.

When I did my state-wide Conservative paper back in the 60's, I used "citizen-experts" who were more knowledgeable about specific issues than the bureaucrats who were trying to ruin their lives. I was amazed at how knowledgeable many ordinary citizens are. This is particularly true "when their ox gets gored," and they either have to become experts in the law pertaining to their issue, or they get buldozed by the bureaucrats.

Also, is this going to be statewide, Western Washington or Puget Sound oriented?

[Chad Fairbanks]

Hmmm... Maybe it's too soon to consider this as an option, but what about the possibility of regional editions? Washington State Focus, with inserts for smaller localities added by the locales themselves, featuring local issues?

For example, we print/publish the actual paper and distribute it to the various locations around the state. A few people in Steilacoom, for example, have a few pages printed up that acts as the community section focusing on issues in the Steilacoom area, and some in Mukilteo do the same for their community, and they are inserted into the ones they receive...

Another thing - Libertina mentioned some ideas about some 'teaching about the constitution' etc... Now, while I'm thinking about hard news and opinion/op-ed pieces etc... one thing we could also consider is an idea similar to the "Coffee Break" section in the PI - But, rather than simply teaching, it could be accomplished via trivia, This Day in History type things etc... just a thought on that.

[Chad Fairbanks]

Hmmm... Maybe it's too soon to consider this as an option, but what about the possibility of regional editions? Washington State Focus, with inserts for smaller localities added by the locales themselves, featuring local issues?

For example, we print/publish the actual paper and distribute it to the various locations around the state. A few people in Steilacoom, for example, have a few pages printed up that acts as the community section focusing on issues in the Steilacoom area, and some in Mukilteo do the same for their community, and they are inserted into the ones they receive...

Another thing - Libertina mentioned some ideas about some 'teaching about the constitution' etc... Now, while I'm thinking about hard news and opinion/op-ed pieces etc... one thing we could also consider is an idea similar to the "Coffee Break" section in the PI - But, rather than simply teaching, it could be accomplished via trivia, This Day in History type things etc... just a thought on that.

[Chad Fairbanks]

Hmmm... Maybe it's too soon to consider this as an option, but what about the possibility of regional editions? Washington State Focus, with inserts for smaller localities added by the locales themselves, featuring local issues?

For example, we print/publish the actual paper and distribute it to the various locations around the state. A few people in Steilacoom, for example, have a few pages printed up that acts as the community section focusing on issues in the Steilacoom area, and some in Mukilteo do the same for their community, and they are inserted into the ones they receive...

Another thing - Libertina mentioned some ideas about some 'teaching about the constitution' etc... Now, while I'm thinking about hard news and opinion/op-ed pieces etc... one thing we could also consider is an idea similar to the "Coffee Break" section in the PI - But, rather than simply teaching, it could be accomplished via trivia, This Day in History type things etc... just a thought on that.

[Sir_Ed]

We had a county-wide monthly here in Grants Pass for a couple of years...it was fun, but grueling.

Ed