To the Editor:
Having just “read” Rep. Atkins’ latest idea to save a few bucks, I am astonished and appalled. A world without newspapers, without [state legal ads and] news? Most especially local news?
Now he has an idea and a bill to go with it… how novel.
Has he considered the thousands of us who rely on actual reading papers, that some do not have online access or, if they do, could or would not utilize the Internet? Has he considered what this does to a free press, one of the bases of the intuition of this great country of ours?
Public notification… well, it goes back to Ben Franklin.
It is called history. It is how many of us get our news, if a friend died, or local official, did they lose their home, or are they in need of assistance due to a divorce or other family problem? There are so many things the public notices tell us so we can stay connected as locals. The list is too long to enumerate.
I read my Countian from start to finish and never put it down without learning something I needed to know.
Does Mr. Atkins realize that this most basic democratic institution in our whole country is under attack? Now, from the Internet? Does this qualify for domestic terrorism? (Pun intended) This is a problem for newspapers all over America.
Bad idea, Mr. Atkins. How about taking on the ”power plant,” toxic air and water quality, or the sprawl which threatens our way of life? This list too, could go on and on. But these issues involve the “power players” and he does not wish to upset that apple cart.
Instead he picks on a free press, or is it a free pass? Thanks, Mr. Walsh, for standing up for the citizens of Sussex.
OAK ORCHARD, DEL. —
