Let's review letters; e-mail update
Mary Henkel Judson

We pride ourselves on our Letters to the Editor policy that just about guarantees all letters are published.

We do have limits, however. We limit length for obvious reasons, and we send cards of thanks and letters that amount to free advertising to the appropriate advertising department. We also do not allow the letters column to be used to wage personal political campaigns, nor do we allow letters to malign a private individual or business - that could land us in court.

There's also a limit on the amount of time the editor (that would be me) has to track down writers to make sure a letter is revised to meet the guidelines. I have a couple of them in my possession now. So, if your letter hasn't appeared, give me a call or e-mail me (Hah! See if it gets to me!) and we'll work out the details.

We appreciate those of you who write to let us know how much you enjoyed your vacation in Port Aransas. However, if the letter becomes advertising to individual businesses, it reads more like an advertising brochure and not a letter to the editor.

More than anything, please stick to the length limit of 300 words. Start by writing your heart out. Then go over it and cut out the lines that just make you feel better, but do little to forward your cause. Keep doing that until your letter hovers around the 300 word mark. Just so you have an idea, you have just read a total of 261 words, counting this one.

A little advice: Stick to one subject. That way, you have a better chance of staying in the word limit. If you've got several subjects to address, send us a letter once a month (we limit people to one letter a month so no one writer hogs the ink).

I'm not blowing hot air when I say our letters column truly is a point of pride for us. We are impressed with the quality of the letters and the subject matter. That is a reflection of our community and our subscriber list. Most of you are people who read and keep abreast of local issues. Many weekly newspapers have only letters that amount to cards of thanks to run in their letters to the editor column. I'm proud to say that the majority of our letter writers address key issues in the community that are "in the news" - the stuff good letters are made of.

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An update on my e-mail saga. My public relations friend from my "server" got back from vacation and read my columns about my dilemma. I thought that was nice, and she was nice. She was concerned that two weeks worth of calls had resulted in absolutely no movement toward resolution of the problem, and then it took another week to sort it all out. She assured me something would be done to correct that level of - what would you call it? - incompetence, neglect?

I told my PR friend that the columns generated several calls from people experiencing the same problem, and they, too, were customers of her firm. Most of my callers reminded me that we have choices, and we could change servers. I'm kind like a dog with a bone sometimes. I've had the same e-mail address from the day I got e-mail, and I really don't want a new one.

My PR friend would like to keep me as a customer, and I'd like to stay connected, too.

For now, the problem seems to have been resolved, and I'll stick with them.

However, if history does, in fact, repeat itself, there will be a new problem that comes visiting the next time they try to "enchance" my e-mail options. And when it does, I'm going straight to the top.

Messin' around with this stuff for three weeks is for the birds.

Judson is editor and co-publisher of the South Jetty.