Opinion Piece by Dale Bohling – June 16, 2016 – originally sent to the Triplicate on August 20, 2015, but never published
STOP! Call 911!
Letters To The Editor on life support!
Coastal Voices receiving CPR!
Kiss your opinions goodbye and prepare to have voluminous opinions from far flung editors and writers shoved onto the editorial page whether you are interested in the opinion of a San Diego editor on bovine flatulence or not. These are are akin to “pop ups” on webpages.”
Our new editor from a distant state has a non- local perspective on the deficiencies of the Del Norte Triplicate and it is the editorial page. While it has been so formatted for many years with not a single published complaint about any group or individual monopolizing the editorial page, Editor Fornoff has divined that Triplicate readers are not adult minded because, he says, (Making room for more of your views, p A4, August 11,2015), adult thinking requires looking at an issue from both sides. Apparently that has not been happening from his point of view because of the laxity of the editorial policy up to now. Mr. Fornoff is here to correct that and so a writer is going to have his/her views stifled after one letter has been written for the month in order to allegedly allow for more letters. Fair enough, except I do not believe that the editorial staff have that many letters submitted for publishing. If wrong I await correction from the editor on that statement.
When it comes to a reader’s preference as to the amount of verbiage put into a Letter To The Editor , I suppose the old hippie slogan of “different strokes for different folks” has a modicum of value here. While Editor Fornoff seemingly prefers a literary snippet I would rather read a better developed writing in which 100 words can make a huge difference.
And wherein lies the fatal flaw of allowing Coastal Voices to be more or less open ended? Perhaps an informal limit of 700 words to the ambitious or the passion-driven zealot who is struck by a visceral need to communicate-let them be heard! I want to read the reasons behind the seemingly nonsensical point of view that stirs the soul of the guy across the aisle from me. Maybe there is a little point of agreement between us. As for those with whom we agree there is little to be learned.
I hope for reader response to this issue.
here is one for you, the Triplicate controlled the local election by typing letters to the editor of candidates who spent the most money with the triplicate and their adds….several letters were wrote on behalf of candidate Sutter which the triplicate refused to print…Mr. Fornoff, needs to look for another line of work where he can enhance his prejudiced biases…