This isn’t starting off on a negative note, but we have to go over a couple of things and then make a general statement for everyone once and for all.  First, Newstalk is and always has been, long before we took over the paper, a collaborative effort among several people involved with the paper and is limited to the opinions of the people involved in writing it and primarily based on things that we have heard on the street – in other words, it’s a gossip column and it is not the “opinion” or “slant” of this paper.  Second, op-ed pieces are opinions of the writer who wrote the column and are not the “opinion” or “slant” of the newspaper or its publishers.  Thirdly and finally – once and for all – the publishers of the paper do not in any way micromanage the editor of the paper and/or demand selective reporting of the news in this city – there is no input from the publishers regarding the news and how it is reported – there is no bias or agenda whatsoever on any level when it comes to the reporting of the local news in these pages.

Having said that – we want to address a few things personally.

Does history tend to repeat itself if you don’t watch out?  There are a lot of rumors out there about our newspapers disappearing from City Hall and other official City buildings.  There is also a lot of misinformation floating around about certain administration people, coupled with the general sense of paranoia associated with local politics, and it creates an environment conducive to infighting.  In our city’s past 40 years, how many Mayors have fallen from grace for similar reasons not long after being elected?  Whatever happened to loyalty and who the hell ever said that patronage was a bad thing anyway?  Loyalty in particular just isn’t the same anymore – instead of going down with the ship, people get so carried away with saving their own asses that they poke holes in the ship, making it sink even faster.  That’s not right.