September 9, 2005

LETTERS2theEDITOR

Times editor wants to hear from you, Evergreen

It’s been one year since the Evergreen Times changed its monthly distribution schedule to a biweekly run. And since the past month has been a very slow month for letters—OK, I haven’t gotten a single letter to the editor intended for print—I’m taking the opportunity to write you.

First, I want to thank the many residents of Evergreen who take the time to call me or e-mail me with interesting story leads—and who don’t assume that I sleep with one eye opened or can hear the neighborhood buzz five miles away.
I really can’t know everything that’s going on, and I’m so grateful for the many residents who inform me about the people and events that make Evergreen what it is—a small town within a large city. You understand that this is your community newspaper and you want your friends, family, pets, activities or concerns to appear in it.

I also want to thank you for your patience. Sometimes I run out of editorial space or simply out of time. “Stop the press!” may work in the movies, but not with our printer. If the paper arrives too late, we risk bumping the job and delaying delivery.

Sometimes features don’t print as soon as you’d like them to, because a news item has usurped the space—like a hurricane. It may have occurred across the country, but it affects us in one way or another. So thanks, again, for your patience.

And yes, I have a backlog of copious meeting notes that don’t always make it into a story. Since we print every other week, not daily, circumstances or events can change significantly, and sometimes the information becomes obsolete.

I have the great privilege of living right in the community where I edit the newspaper, with instant verbal feedback the minute the Evergreen Times prints. Yet with some 90,000 residents and an extensive geographic span to cover, I’m only getting a fraction of the feedback.

Everyone has an opinion about something. What’s on your mind? With the ease and speed of e-mail, you can send a quick e-mail version of a letter to the editor in minutes. Your letters don’t have to epics—just a few paragraphs about something that you liked, or didn’t like, in the Evergreen Times.

Send feedback on what you’d like to see more or less of or embark on a topic that you haven’t seen covered in the newspaper.

Before we changed the frequency of our newspaper, a longtime Evergreen resident—accustomed to receiving her Evergreen Times monthly for more than two decades—told me that we’d never have enough material to fill the newspaper every other week.

This incredibly unique, diverse and vibrant community has definitely proven her wrong.

Bea Baechle
Editor
The Evergreen Times

Have an opinion?

Let the Evergreen Times hear from you. In order to be considered, letters must be signed by the author or come with the name in an email and have author’s phone number, which will not be printed. Send letters to bea@timesmediainc.com, or via mail to:

The Evergreen Times
1310 Tully Road, Ste. 107
San Jose, CA 95122