Misconceptions

Recently, (I use that when I can't remember dates) some of you spotted errors in the Spokesman-Review, having to do with Bayview, or Athol, Idaho. While I do write feature stories about both of these, my favorite communities, I do not write all of these stories. Some staff writers are assigned stories, such as election news, and others. When a story is judged to be one that I can't be objective about, I refer the material to the news room. The paragraph relating to the Community Center Election is as submitted, here:

Bayview Community Center Foundation, held it’s annual meeting Wednesday, September 19. Elections were held for the replacement of three board members that are retiring. The Community Center Foundation was originally created by the Bayview Chamber of Commerce in about 1993-94. Built with various state, Federal and private grants. The property was donated by the Waller family. After the shell was built, the rest was finished with community donated labor and materials. (This paragraph was edited out, and a side bar with convoluted info was substituted)

Aside from that, errors are sometimes made. Some by me, many by others. When editors are juggling six editions of Voices, and the Handle Extra,(all by the same editors) stuff can be mixed up, such as the comment on a side bar that showed the election of officers for the Bayview Community Council, instead of the Bayview Community Center Trust. I did not write that side bar. That was an unfortunate homogenization of two stories that got lost in the shuffle.

I always point out to my superiors, the errors of their ways, as the errors in mine. On the positive side, when I write sloppy copy as I do more often than I would like to admit, they smooth it out, make it work, and make me look good. They are horrendously overworked, under appreciated and they still shine, totally unperturbed by the turmoil that surrounds them. Please give them a break, and for that matter, me too.We try so very hard to get our facts/dates/names right. We don't always succeed. But we bust our butts to do so.

Whatever failures I have, I own. Just be aware that if there is information about Bayview or Athol, or any other venue that I am called upon to write about, if I wrote it, it has my byline. Some blurbs are not signed, and often are are added on by editors. Oh, and be assured, I do know that the population of Bayview is many times the 276 that somebody came up with.