May Birthdays

5/1	Gerald Bradshaw	West Valley
5/2	Delarita Ford	West Valley
5/2	Timothy Buzzard	Delaware Printing
5/3	Farshid Yousefi	Delaware Printing
5/4	Deborah Hanson	Valley Printing
5/4	Virginia Palmer	East Valley
5/6	Kelly Mitchell	Valley Printing
5/12	Barbara Calfee	Caloosa Belle
5/13	Lori Clarke	Okeechobee News
5/14	James Rickards	Delaware State News
5/14	Steven Burks	West Valley
5/15	Debra Wieland	Okeechobee News
5/17	Samantha Bennett	Delaware Printing
5/20	Judith Sheedy	Okeechobee News
5/21	Matthew Bittle	Delaware State News
5/21	Keith Barry	Delaware Printing
5/21	Kristopher Snedeker	Delaware Printing
5/22	David Cannon	Dorchester Banner
5/25	Maria Orozco	Valley Printing
5/25	Darin Powell	Corporate Services
5/30	Eric Kopp	Okeechobee News
5/31	Michael Smith	Corporate Services

Editor Praises Opinion Pages

Thank you for exercising your right to Sound Off

By Andrew West

Delaware State News

DOVER — Some notes and quotes between headlines and deadlines...

❑❑❑

So far this year, we have enjoyed the public discussions that have been taking place on our Opinion pages. We believe those pages belong to our readers, so you’ll not find us taking a stance on issues and telling our readers what to think.

“Our role is to facilitate the community’s discussion of public issues, draw people out, make sure the discussion is as open and vigorous as possible, and keep it within the bounds of fair play,” we state in our Newsroom Guidelines. Certainly, Delawareans have had plenty to discuss in recent months.

Sometimes, it has been weighing in on a national issue like health care or an international concern like the U.S. missile strikes on Syria.

But, mostly, we see a need to discuss local and statewide issues.

The siege at James T. Vaughn Correctional Center in January has been one of the hottest topics. So have the salaries of state workers and the wrangling over the state’s operating budget, what with a $380 million shortfall in the headlines.

To capture this discussion, the Delaware State News has been monitoring social media comments on our website, our Facebook and occasionally the pages of Delaware’s elected officials.

The result can especially be seen in “Delaware Sound Off” — a compilation of the variety of viewpoints.

In March, we published more than 230 Delaware Sound Off comments from readers.

We also are enjoying numerous letters to the editor, and we hope that our readers are, too.

Our pages are open to all sides of the arguments, but we ask that you share your opinions in a civil manner.

We understand that our opinion page approach is different from many daily newspapers.

Elsewhere, publishers and editors use their newspapers to advance their own political views.

Here, we believe our public trust requires that we facilitate community discussion, instead of dominating or stifling it. To comment on stories at www.DelawareStateNews.net, readers must use a Facebook registration.

We also welcome comments via email to newsroom@newszap.com.

Scottsdale Independent Works With Local School

Scottsdale Unified School District’s Cocopah Middle School celebrated #MathStatMonth on Twitter by using the Scottsdale Independent for a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) design challenge.

See tweet here: https://twitter.com/CocopahSUSD/status/851872227733774342

Okeechobee News Walks for March of Dimes

Okeechobee News raised money this past year for the March of Dimes. This year Okeechobee was able to raise $42,500 and counting (online donations have not been included in this number) Pictured are the walkers this year from the staff. Left to Right Cindy Eckert, Elizabeth Knowles (Cindy’s daughter), Tammi Kelly; Team Captain (with Baxter her dog) and Katrina Elsken (and Scooter one of her dogs) The walk is three miles long and is held throughout the town.