Burton on Babies and the Bay
Dear Bay Weekly:
Overall, Bill Burton and his writings are an asset to your newspaper. Most of the time Bill provides your readers with valuable or interesting information about the science of natural resources, its management and its politics.
Occasionally, though, he simply takes up space — space that your paper could perhaps fill with something more interesting than his newly born granddaughter [“A New Baby for the Burton-Boughey Family,” Vol. X, No. 2, Jan. 10-16].
Now, I am not against bragging about and being proud of grandchildren (I have five myself), and I’m certain that he is very proud and happy that Mackenzie Noelle is in his life, and he has a right to be. But I read Bill Burton’s column to read about natural resources issues and not about his life before shoes, or his growing up in some great community or his cats or … you get the point.
If Bill wants to impart his personal experiences or write about life or special events or the like, then your paper should promote him as a feature writer about those things.
In the meantime, his articles about natural resources are valuable to a newspaper such as yours that focuses in large part on the Bay and surrounding environs, so don’t let him just fill up space with anything he decides to write about.
— Jim Mallow, Tracy’s Landing
Dear Bay Weekly:
I very much enjoyed Bill Burton’s report on the new grandbaby at home. Also “Where the Birds Are” [Not Just for Kids, Vol. X, No. 2, Jan. 10-16]. Since I usually wear a hat, I laughed about the bird hat.
— Haidi Zech, Edgewater
Dear Bay Weekly:
What a beautiful article on the birth of Mackenzie Noelle. Bill Burton’s tenderness brought tears to my eyes. I knew he was a big teddy bear. Although I have only seen pictures of her, she is a beauty and to hear from Bill how pleasant she is only makes her that much more precious. Pleasant babies are a true blessing and this is the voice of experience speaking from both the perspective of a mother and a ‘Grammy.’ When heredity takes over, I’m sure she’ll stay pleasant but not quiet, definitely not quiet. I hope she has Bill’s ability to paint a picture with words.
— Sandy Stevens, Halethorpe
Free Paper, Free Speech
Dear Bay Weekly:
It makes me wonder why certain things get printed and why others never see the light of day. The letter about our Bay being a terrorists’ dream [Vol. X, No. 2, Jan. 10-16] had no business being printed. What positive effect could come from this letter? Did you expect the people of Calvert County to suddenly become alarmed and move? Was it just to give people another possible target to become scared and obsess about? If the answer is no to those, then what other reasons are there? To give disgruntled people a possible outlet that they hadn’t thought of yet?
Let me guess: You would like to see more tapes of Bin Laden or cameras in the Moussaoui trial. All that does is give the terrorists another platform. Please: we the people of Calvert
County know what possible targets are in our county or in our area. No need to broadcast it.
God Bless America
—Ken Werley, Owings
Editor’s note: The business of a newspaper is to open a forum for public debate, not to censor it. The ostrich with its head in the sand may not suffer the sight of danger, but that leaves it no less vulnerable to real threats.
We welcome your letters and opinions. We will edit when necessary. Include your name, address and phone number for verification. Mail them to Bay Weekly, P.O. Box 358, Deale, MD 20751 • E-mail them to us at [email protected].
