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Life in the Valley of Riches

Recently I received a scathing email from someone disgruntled about an error that they found in the paper and it read like this: “What about the editor?! Do you all not care about the truth anymore? … Investigative journalism, what happened to the truth. We’re supposed to be able to trust journalists. But all we get is propaganda, distractions and lies. What happened to the truth, the facts, reality?”
I have also been asked, “How could you have possibly missed that spelling error?” from a well-meaning reader of the Illinois Valley News.
The answer is because I am human and to be human is to err. Not all the newspaper deadlines go as smoothly as I would like. Sometimes important stories are turned in late from a reporter and I have to quickly review them. Computers and the internet don’t always cooperate and shut down in the middle of a deadline. Customers come into the news office and need information in the middle of deadline production. Local organizations, government and schools are closed on Monday holidays when the news staff is on production day. And believe it or not, sometimes I am sick and am not thinking as clearly as I would like.
The answer to the question about whether I care anymore is “Yes!” I value the truth and care very much about giving accurate news to our community. I especially love writing and editing good news and community-based stories like the recent retirements of teachers Ms. Sally Clements and Mrs. Suzie Garman and the community recognition recently given to local Connie Dillinger.
I always strive for quality and before each weekly paper published goes to press, I have found and changed hundreds of errors.

In last week’s paper these are the errors that I didn’t catch:

Eating Crow Corrections:

In the front page Jubilee Jamboree article that I wrote last week, it should have stated that the wonderful Dale Hopper is also performing at Jubilee Jamboree Saturday, June 10.
In the KXCJ DJ story May 31, 2023 by Iris Chinook, DJ Deep Field meant to say “billions” of stars, not “thousands” of stars.
In the front page I.V. Lions Club Car Show by Gwen Barringer in the May 31,2023 edition, former Cave Junction Lions Club President Nina Horsley wanted corrections to be made as follows: It has been four years since the last car show, not two, and the former Cave Junction Lions Club should have been given credit for the 21 years of putting on previous car shows.
As always, the Illinois Valley News staff and I regret the errors and strive for a quality newspaper.
Thank you for continuing to read the Illinois Valley News. Enjoy this week’s edition.