Joe McAdory: Letters to editor important, must follow guidelines

Some letters to the editor are hard-hitting and thought provoking. Some simply make fellow members of the community aware of specific needs. Some are responses to other letters and some are responses to stories in the newspaper or events either locally or nationally that impact our lives.

All are important.

Letters to the editor are often some of the most-read features a newspaper publishes. Why? People want to read the perspectives of other readers in what becomes a cross examination of local society. It’s a community talking to itself.

This newspaper has developed loyal following of readers who consistently send us their point of view from the right to the left. Over the years, we feel like we’ve gotten to know them. We would prefer not to publish one person more than once in two weeks. That’s something I want to really police in the near future. There are things we encourage readers to understand before they submit a letter to the editor.

We strongly prefer to publish letters in the order in which they are received. Basically, get in line and patiently wait your turn. Those who have letters of pressing matters should not wait until the last minute to write. Get it to us early, and that will help ensure timely publication.

Letters submitted electronically, you know … email, receive first priority to those submitted with typed or written longhand. Why? Time management issues. If you have Internet, please use it.

The standard word limit for letters to the editor is 300. We believe a person should be able to make a point within that parameter and allow space for others on the page. The shorter the letters, the more letters we can publish on a given day.

Letters will be edited for grammar and clarity. Misspelled words can happen to anyone.

Misinformation in letters is strongly discouraged. Sometimes letter-writers write false information based on what they have heard or believe. Hopefully, by catching false information we protect these writers from making mistakes in print and ourselves too. Some false information can slip through the cracks. It’s hard to police everything.

Some writers have provided false information by design. That’s highly unfortunate and embarrassing for themselves and this newspaper if the incorrect data makes print.

Submitting a letter also comes with submitting a telephone number so the author can be reached for verification. If no number is submitted, the letter has zero chance of publication.

Letters to the editor are important to the readership of this newspaper and to the community that explores their neighbor’s thoughts on our pages. Please always feel free to write.

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Human rights activist the Rev. Jesse Jackson will speak Sunday at 6 p.m. in the Tuskegee University Chapel.

According to a release issued by the university, Jackson will speak on the impact of the economic stimulus and efforts to eliminate credit card companies’ presence on college campuses.

I’m not sure students are responsible enough to have credit cards thrown in their faces and be suckered into high-interest debts. It happened to me long ago.

According to the release, Jackson’s Rainbow Coalition will award $1,000 scholarships to 12 Tuskegee students.

Whether you like him or don’t like him, it’s always interesting to have a public figure of this national stature speaking in our area.

The event is open to the public.

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Candidate for Lee County Family Court Judge Margaret Mayfield hosted an event last Friday at Spa Auburn with guests having the opportunity to meet her.

Mayfield, of Opelika, who is campaigning against Mike Fellows, of Auburn, for the position to be vacated next year by current Judge Richard Lane, has served as Lee County assistant district attorney since 1984. Mayfield has also served as assistant prosecutor for the city of Opelika and as a municipal court judge. She is also an attorney for the Lee County Department of Human Resources.

Fellows, appointed by Lane in 2003 as a Family and Juvenile Court referee, hosted a family pumpkin hunt last Friday at the Dell Pumpkin Ranch in Loachapoka.

Joe McAdory is editorial page editor for the Opelika-Auburn News. He can be reached at 737-2549 or jmcadory@oanow.com