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Blogs > Tips from readers needed

Would that we were psychic ... oh, what a paper we could publish.

Unfortunately, we here at KTW are as human as the next guy or gal, which is why we need to remind people that, when it comes to possible stories of interest that do not fall within regular events (council meetings), spot news (accidents) or logical follow-ups (impact of tax hikes), a simple call to the newsroom is the best course or action.

Unfortunately, there seems to be a prevailing belief that a newspaper (or radio station, or televisio station) will somehow know preternaturally that an event is or has happened.

Cases in point: This morning an e-mail arrived, suggesting we were "missing the story" in relation to the recent fire at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre. The e-mail was actually a welcome missive in that it gave us some information on an interesting angle to the fire's aftermath.

But, unless we are tipped to such information, or it happens to arise by chance while asking various questions about the fire, there is no way we can know of such information.

This happens on a regular basis, where I will get a call or an e-mail, asking why we were not at (insert event here).

My usual response: "Well, we didn't know about it."

To which silence is the usual rejoinder, at which point it dawns on the caller that, indeed, we may not be psychic after all.

Now, this does not pertain to hard news stories in which a reporter is actively working the phones to get information from his/her contacts. This is strictly related to the soft, community news, on which we, as a thrice-weekly newspaper, should focus.

We have a feature I like to run every four to six weeks, called Life in the Loops, a soft feature created to showcase our writers' talent (they must write a mini-feature in 300-400 words) while profiling someone or something in Kamloops that normally would not get attention.

The Daily News has a similar angle in its Reader's Reporter endeavour, with reporter Catherine Litt doing a great job on writing compelling stories on routine things, most of which I gather are via suggestions from the public.

It's an interactive journey most newspapers are taking, and it seems to be working well.

And, while the Internet is available to one and all for provincial, national and international news, localized news - hard and soft - is the speciality we must continue to pursue to ensure we have a niche that is more or less untouchable by outside news sources.

Got an idea, be it as big as alleged corruption at city hall or a sweet story involving the neighbour down the block?

Pick up the phone and give us a call: 374-7467.

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There was a provincial cribbage tournament held at the Parksville Legion on Sunday. 4 local Island players won the Provincial title and are now looking towards heading to Ontario for the Nationals. One member is Lloyd Brown of Qualicum Beach (my father-in-law). It might be nice to run a story on these "active seniors"....they're pretty excited and we're VERY proud of their acheivements. It's noteworthy that Lloyd was also the Gold Medal recipient in last year's Senior Games.

Posted by: Arlene King
Date: Mar-18-2008
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Looking at the long term effects that closing almost all of the mental treatment centers across the province in the sixties has had on crime, homelessness and drug addiction. The Vancouver Chief of Police recently stated that two thirds of his police resources are spent dealing with crime that has mental illness as a root cause. Maybe it is time to reopen an updated "Tranquille School" molded to deal with mandatory long and short term admission for people in need. Surely we can not continue to expect the police to be our mental health workers and our jails to cure mental illness and addiction related problems.

Posted by: Don
Date: Mar-18-2008
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has any one noticed we are in a energy crisses???? What's with polotitions, are they given a stupid pill when they are elected or what???Why do polotitians run off their feelings with out thinking of consequenses? they alomst always say "I think" however most of ever do think things through. still confused? I'm talking about council planning to put in a neon sign greeting people entering the town, and if I heard right they want to eventually put one on every entrance. First neon is for vegas and strip joints it got to be the uglyest form of signage ever. all that aside the signs will gooble up plenty of electricity for wich is the bigest problem, besides that a sign like that would provide perfect target practice for any number of kids, drunks or just plain jerks to practice on, which would increase the cost the cost in the long run far far beyand the initial costs....even replacing a burnt section of sign is no cheap or easy process. IF council and mayor had any taste indesigning they would look at a more natural like log home style or sign made out of rocks like the red rocks that are found only in your area would be more tastefull, throw a couple of halogen lights behind the sign and you have a classy, long liveing sign that compliments ashcroft and cachecreek. I heard some one say " it will shed the idea of ashcroft being a land fill city.. .. you know what? mabee if there wasn't garbage blowing around on the hyway it would go along way to shedding the idea of garbage being a problem. You should be proud of the fact you take all the waste of the lower mainland and safely and cleanly dispose of the waste. IF it is left up to the morronic polotions in the lowermainland they will end up burning it which inturn ends up being breathed by every liveing thing on earth and poluting the enviroment. with all the bottomless pits in the area it dosn't take a genuiss to figure out it makes sense to burry it. Brian Alexander, Kamloops

Posted by: Brian Alexander
Date: Mar-29-2008
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