Share your thoughts with the Knot

Every week, we remind you that the Pine Knot News community newspaper welcomes your input. Send your thoughts, letters, or news to [email protected].

And with a special election on Feb. 5 to replace State Sen. Tony Lourey, we expect many letters of support from voters. We plan to publish them all.

There are some restrictions, of course. We prefer topics of local interest, so we’re looking forward to letters on the upcoming election. Letters must include a name and contact number so we can verify the letter (we won’t publish your phone number, but we won’t publish your letter without having it). We will edit it for clarity, grammar, and punctuation. And we won’t accept letters that are unnecessarily inflammatory, derogatory, or slanderous.

So far, we’ve received lots of letters, which is terrific. A hometown newspaper should, we feel, have the input of its readers, so we’ve made it part of our mission to include as many letters and columns as we can.

Typically, we don’t publish election letters the issue prior to voting. That’s because there’s no time for the “other side” to respond and correct factual errors or clarify inaccuracies.

This time, though, we’ve decided to make an exception. Letters will be published in the Feb. 1 edition. But we will limit those to letters of support; we will not print any letter in that edition that states a fact or makes an allegation that a reasonable opposing candidate would believe deserves a rebuttal.

And you don’t have to restrict your letters to candidates. We’ll gladly receive letters that identify the issues you, the citizens of State Senate District 11, find most important to you.

Pine Knot News will not be endorsing candidates, and we won’t be putting up any phony “polls,” either. So, it will be your input that guides readers on this election. We hope you participate.