Dear Readers,

Now that the Northern Nevada Ghost Hunters have spent the weekend reaching out to the unseen, the question everyone’s asking is, “What did they find?”

It would be bad etiquette for me to give away too much before NNGH has been given an opportunity to review the evidence and present it to the community.

That being said, I think I can safely say the spirits of the Humboldt County Courthouse do not disappoint.

It is the position of the Silver Pinyon Journal that the City of Winnemucca’s draft media policy, as proposed by City Manager Steve West, is insufficient and lacks the careful thought that should be given to government/media relations in order to uphold the principles of the First Amendment.

The media does not request information from the government on its own behalf. Rather, the information is requested on behalf of the public. The infrastructure that allows the flow of information from the government to the public is just as important as the roads we drive.  To that end:

Dear Readers,

I want to thank one of our commenters (voiceofreason) for the following post:

“Dee - I think I understand and appreciate our dialogue. But to think that the relationship between SPJ and ANY public official, including WPD and HCSO officers and supervisors, city officials, school teachers and administrators, and just about any other public figure is a "Win-Win" is ludicrous. These people have NO supporters here in SPJ, and are constantly put down. Why would any of them feel an obligation to treat SPJ any differently than SPJ treats them? Although YOU may not treat them badly, you provide the means for people to publicly castigate them. I am not surprised at West's reaction.”

This post had a powerful effect on me – though not the one he/she may have intended.  What it did was remind me I was doing the very thing I advise our public officials not to do:  I focused on the negative and forgot the numbers.

WINNEMUCCA — The first official candidate of Special Election 2011 will be in town this week seeking our vote.  The SPJ will not be there to report on all the exciting talking points, though, because the media has been frozen out by  the campaign.

Since I’m reluctant to give oodles of free advertising to someone not showing First Amendment love, for the sake of this editorial the candidate in question will be referred to as Bark Hamoday (the ‘H’ is silent).