Reprint: Sun City West 9/6/2017 Issue
Like few times in
American history, there is quite a bit of discussion about the U.S.
Constitution’s First Amendment.
President Donald
Trump’s visit to Phoenix Aug. 22 ramped it right back up in Arizona. After
violent and fatal protests in Charlottesville, Virginia earlier this summer,
demonstrators were out in force in downtown Phoenix. Like most demonstrations
these days, that one got a little unruly and police had to take action to keep
it from getting out of hand.
That brought calls
of how the city of Phoenix “failed” the protesters, denying them their First
Amendment rights. All that can be avoided if more people would
exercise a different type of First Amendment expression of their freedom
of speech — writing letters to the editors of local newspapers.
Letters to the
editor give you the opportunity to share your thoughts on community issues or
more broad subjects, or simply to share something special with your neighbors.
Letters can also
take on an entertainment value. Independent regularly published letters from
Sun City resident Joe Zweben, who offered some everyday ideas — some practical,
some not so much. But those letters never failed to entertain.
Part of the mission
of Independent Newsmedia is to encourage public debate of issues. After having
the privilege of getting to know some of you in the past years I have been
reporting on Sun Cities community issues, I can see there are no shortages of
ideas and opinions out there.
We want to help you
share those with your neighbors.
Freedom of speech is
a wonderful thing, but it is useless unless it is exercised.
The philosophy of
Independent Newsmedia is that people, at times, need a chance to speak out on
public issues. Our goal is to provide a forum for local opinions, ideas,
solutions, praise and, of course, complaints.
Letters published in
the Independent will be those that are focused on Sun Cities issues. Those
wil a more broad perspective (region, county, state and national) will be
published in our sister newspaper, the Daily News-Sun. Please keep in
mind letters are for the discussion of public issues, not personal attacks.
While some criticism of people involved in public issues is legitimate, we try
to make sure comments center on the individual’s public performance.
We take very
seriously our responsibility to edit letters for the newspaper carefully to
make sure the printed comments stay within the bounds of fair play.
We edit letters for
clarity, fairness and length (a rule of thumb is to keep letters at 300
words).
Please let us know
if you think we can do a better job.
All letters, except
those considered to be libelous, will be published. So please do not be bashful
about sending in letters for fear there will not be enough room to publish them
all. Opinion items not published one week will be held over for the following
weeks’ editions.
We strive to fulfill
our mission to facilitate community dialogue and hope you enjoy reading what
your neighbors are thinking, and contribute some material of your own.
Rusty Bradshaw can
be reached at 623-445-2725 or rbradshaw@newszap.com.
