[Dear Editor]
[You’re] Selling month old news, you lazy piece of sh-t. Morbid info.
- no name -
- no return address -
Dear no name:
For such a short missive, there’s a lot being said, so please allow me to retort.
Let me deal with your last point, first. The “morbid info” from the Around the State page you enclosed is news stories forwarded to me by State Law Enforcement. Oft-times they report on traffic fatalities and death investigations. All I’m doing is relaying to FFJ readers what is sent to me. Unfortunately, the reality is when police are called to respond to a situation, it’s usually not “happy news.”
This leads me to address your first point: “month old news.” As I said, these stories in the Around the State section of FFJ are forwarded to me from the Maine State Police and Maine Warden Service. I get so many of them that I have a backlog. Instead of omitting them, I print them in consecutive order from oldest to newest as I have space available in the newspaper. It just so happens that the page you tore out and referenced in your missive (February 13, 2019, p. 14) came in the midst of one of those backlogged situations. If I could afford to print more pages then maybe I could keep up with the stories.
Now, for your second point: the “lazy piece of sh-t” (I know you spelled it all the way out, but I have to keep some standards, or I’d be as bad as the rest of the base level of society). I’m not sure how trying to keep up with the backlog of stories I’m presented with makes me lazy. Regardless of the date or content it still takes me around an hour and a half to compose that page in the paper (it took me two hours to compose this current page you are reading now)—and I’m usually doing that around 10:30 at night with my eyes dull from straining at a computer monitor for many hours out of the day. I spend about 80 to 100 hours per week to put together this newspaper. In addition to writing, I also research, photograph, layout the paper, print it, assemble it by hand (which takes about 8 hours or more), deliver it to all the stores in my own vehicle and take care of mailing the subscriptions. I also attend town council meetings, ball games, and other public events in person so I can gather the information and pictures to bring back to the office and write it. The FFJ comes out every two weeks and doing this all by myself it’s a wonder it even gets put together and published on time.
I also design and publish my own website with stories from the paper and produce and upload television documentaries and a Week in Review onlinetelevision newscast as I have material to populate it with. I am also my own accountant, salesperson, accounts payable and accounts receivable and for the most part, IT guy. I’m currently doing all that and building a portable video wall and learning how to produce video special effects using 3D rendering software. I’ve had to learn it all in order to do be able to do it all with a staff of one person which is what’s required in today’s economy in the news/print business in this area.
Additionally, to make enough money to continue publishing this newspaper and keep my equipment current and maintained (I own and operate the printing equipment, too), I’ve had to keep my “day job” as a sound system/video production contractor in order to supplement my income so I can even print a newspaper for you to so brashly and recklessly criticize. During the summer months, I’m rarely in the office because I’m on a sound system rental job at one of the Fairs, the Potato Blossom Festival, or other events. All summer long I generally end up writing the entire newspaper out of the back of my equipment trailer while on another job site for those three months out of the year.
My family and I were at my dad’s bedside when he died of cancer six years ago. I had my laptop with me and was writing the paper that day up until his death, then continued writing it the day after. If you see me at a town council meeting, my laptop’s open and I’m writing. If I’m sitting waiting for someone, I’m writing. Always writing. Always composing and all so I can be called “lazy.” Really?
Outside of the newspaper and sound system contracting, I cut most of my own firewood to heat our house (the house I physically built pretty much by myself in 2012-2013), snow blow our large driveway with a walk-behind snow blower and maintain a large lawn and modest garden in the summer. Therefore, your quip about me being “lazy” is horribly and woefully miscalculated and misinformed.
As for your ad hominem attack on me (calling me a derogatory name), it’s been my experience that the person on the other side of an argument generally tends to commence with name calling of his/her opponent when their position cannot be successfully argued or defended. In other words, they know they’ve lost the argument and seek to tear down the other person with name calling as a last-ditch effort to save face.
I work seven days a week, generally from 7am—11pm with a couple hours off to eat and spend some time with my wife. Some nights I’m up until midnight or later. If you would have included your name and address, I would have invited you to spend a day—any day of the week—with me to see if you can keep up...so long as you didn’t get in my way. I think fast and I move fast. I’m perpetually worn out, but the paper does get published, even if some of the stories are backdated a little. So, before you call me “lazy” you should do a little more research on your topic.
Best Regards,
David Deschesne
Editor/Publisher,
Fort Fairfield Journal
