Bizarre happenings in this business
I have found that sometimes strange things happen at a newspaper office. I've used this space before to lament about how things just seem to get lost in e-mail purgatory between my office and the Marion office. I never know how I manage to send some news items off into never-never land. No one seems to be able to explain it to me either. But everyone thinks it is strange.
Once in awhile people don't get their papers. Just, all of a sudden, out of the blue, their names disappear from the database. Poof! One week they are there, the next two or three they are not. I call Marion to complain. They tell me the name is still there, that there should be a mailing label affixed to a newspaper to be delivered by the post office. Hmmmm
And I have a stalker. The stalker is known only as "Anonymous." Anonymous hangs around this job like flies hang around you-know-what. No matter how many times it has been stated that it is not this paper's policy to print anything delivered or sent without a name, Anonymous thinks I might give in just this one time and print what he has sent or left for me. This week I even received money from Anonymous. Well, I can't be bought. So there!
Actually, Anonymous kind of screwed up on this one. An envelope, stained, rumpled, and obviously weathered was delivered to my desk Saturday by the folks next door at Mayesville Mercantile.
On the front of the envelope were the words "Ad for Paper." In the upper right hand corner a Mayesville employee had printed, "Found in the door of Mayesville Mercantile." The envelope had obviously been in the weather for several weeks and had gotten wet on more than one occasion. Inside were a 20-dollar bill and a typed note that read, "Please place an ad in this week's paper that says something like this: Elections are April 1, 2003. Write in Kevin Ensminger for Mayor!" No name, no political affiliation, nothing. Anonymous struck again. Strange.
Anonymous stuck the envelope, with his note and his money in the back door of Mayesville Mercantile and it languished there for nearly a month. Anonymous thought he had put the note in the back door of Jackrabbit Hollow to be found by this newspaper person. I bet he wonders what happened to his ad (not to mention his 20 bucks) and his write-in campaign for someone he obviously thought should have another run at being mayor of Peabody. Strange. What's wrong with being up front about this stuff, Anonymous?
The fact is, if Anonymous had really wanted Kevin to be mayor again, a proper write-in campaign might have done it. The Marion County election board credited Kevin with six votes for mayor without any concerted effort to declare him a write-in candidate. Fifteen other people snagged 39 votes. That's a total of 45 votes, almost half of what the winner received. Strange that Anonymous didn't have the presence of his convictions. Strange that he skulked around, sneaky, stalking, and sly.
But even if Anonymous had put the envelope in the right door, the ad would not have run. Political ads are required by law to have a notation stating what individual or group paid for the ad. And as I have stated before, we don't do "anonymous." Not ever. Period. No way. The end.
So I am up 20 big ones, right? Nope, not me. I'm not going to play that game. Anonymous just bought himself part of a fireworks display for this year's Fourth of July celebration. The Fourth Fest committee can put his anonymous money anywhere it pleases. My suggestion would be where the sun don't shine. Strange, how that anonymous stuff works.
— SUSAN MARSHALL
