To the Editor:
A few weeks ago, (five) members of our Town Council relayed an ugly episode that occurred in public. The sole editor of our town’s only newspaper made remarks, publicly, which reasonable people would call incendiary. A defense has been offered that he was making those comments as a private citizen, not as editor of this newspaper.
No law requires a newspaper editor to be objective, or to demonstrate good judgment. We are all free to express ourselves as we see fit. What we cannot do is force others to forget that we said it; or to see us divided in half, when in fact, the same person is speaking, in whatever capacity; or to overlook the lack of objectivity and good judgment in the remarks made. People will remember who said those things, in whatever capacity he speaks or writes later.
Yet again, we see our town being divided — exactly my concern a year ago. I place the blame for this exactly where I placed it a year ago — because that is where it began, and that is what is driving it.
I remember the political circus of the late 1990s, and implore our leaders, our citizens, and our good editor to stop the politics of grievance and vendetta before we return to that.
Sometimes people miss the forest for the trees.
Paul L. LaClair
Kearny
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Paul L. LaClair | Kearny
Paul L. LaClair is a Kearny resident and is a frequent contributor to The Observer's opinion page.