Fair booth makes us fair game for ‘suggestions’The Star Herald fair booth is disassembled and the helium balloons are deflated, so it’s fair to say our anniversary party is over.We made a big deal out of observing the 130th anniversary of the Star Herald this year and our booth saw lots of traffic at the fair. As usual, people generously shared their thoughts about the paper.Some were kind enough to congratulate us on our 130 years, others were duly impressed by our digital slide show at the booth. Others offered compliments on specific stories or columns.Of course, others offered … suggestions for improvement. For example, why don’t we still publish land transactions and accident reports? Why does it cost more for a subscription outside of Rock County? Why don’t we identify the complainants in the cop report? Why do we have to put someone’s DWI in the paper?The "suggestions" are awkward and sometimes unpleasant. Receiving them from the inside of a fair booth makes us easy, vulnerable targets. But in the grand scheme of community newspapering, this sort of exchange is what we should want.A lot has changed since 1873, but these compliments and criticisms are at the heart of what we strive to be at the Star Herald — a newspaper for the people and about the people of Rock County.Without input from readers, this wouldn’t be possible.And the winners are…We’d hoped to make a big announcement this week about whose names were drawn in our special anniversary promotions. At press time, we were still attempting to reach the winners, so that announcement will come next week.Thanks to everyone who stopped at the booth to renew subscriptions, order photos, guess the number of words on the page or simply enter to win free stuff.Who are the departing Guard members?When it comes to departing soldiers in wartime, there’s a big difference in the way things are done today compared with news gathering of days gone by.During World War II, the Star Herald’s front pages were plastered with individual reports, and sometimes lists of names of soldiers who had been called to active duty.That method of reporting served an important purpose of drawing community members together to support the families of departed soldiers.Unfortunately, that broad release of personal information has, in recent years, left families vulnerable to others with less noble intentions.For the past several weeks, I’ve been pressing for a list of names of local National Guard members who are leaving next week for duties overseas. The National Guard communications office has been sympathetic to our intentions, but today the concern for family privacy outweighs that of community interest.That’s something we can all understand, but I can’t help but wonder how this will affect the long-term historical account of our community and the role of its soldiers in global affairs.We can’t read the definitive list of names in the Star Herald, but we as an entire community are invited to the farewell picnic Monday in the city park.The program starts at 6:30, and it’s shaping up to be a tasteful, patriotic, appropriate send-off for our local Guard members.
