Letter: Paper treated Deal unfairly

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March 18, 2010

Anonymous Dalton Daily Citizen The Dalton Daily Citizen Thu Mar 18, 2010, 10:54 PM EDT

DALTON — So I spent some time last weekend crafting a clear, concise letter to the editor comparing and contrasting the paper’s treatment of three prominent local figures who changed jobs.

Then I received a call from the publisher. We had a good conversation about my letter and why some things are reported and some things aren’t, and he asked me to edit a section of it.

Ouch!

Censored by The Man!

My first experience with editing came around 1980 when I submitted a press release to the then Daily Citizen-News about an upcoming Lion’s Club air show.

A few days later an incomprehensible, unrecognizable, completely inaccurate and yet somehow longer version of my carefully and thoughtfully constructed masterpiece appeared in the paper. No byline added insult to injury.

I admit it is my dream to be an opinion columnist. Consider New York Times columnists Thomas Friedman, Paul Krugman and Maureen Dowd. I’m pretty sure these people have never actually done anything except go to school and write and yet they seem to have a solution to every conceivable problem known to man. Who knew that experts in dangling participles were qualified to run the world?

I earned a few modest accolades as a young man for writing, but took a more practical career path and entered engineering school. It never occurred to me you could make a living spouting your opinions with no need to substantiate your conclusions with verifiable facts. Which reminds me of the inspiration of my original letter.

On March 2 Nathan Deal announced his resignation from Congress. By the end of the day The Daily Citizen concluded he was a selfish, unethical quitter. I, too, don’t want to see a solid no vote to Obama-care leave Washington right now. And, yes, the Congressional Ethics (oxymoron?) Committee is investigating a complaint. But this character assassination based on one decision, “political blogs and Internet postings” was irresponsible.

After 18 years, can you really be considered a quitter? Were Obama, Biden and McCain unselfishly fulfilling their senatorial duties while campaigning for president? If that includes voting yes for TARP, I guess so. Mr. Deal voted no.

If Mr. Deal is elected governor I hope he doesn’t remember the “Raw Deal” he got in Dalton.

Les Halman

Dalton

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