Okay, okay, okay… Uncle!

So… the people have spoken. I finally relent and cry “Uncle!” But… but… but… if The Lintonian indeed comes out of semi-retirement, there has to be some changes:

I’ve struggled with one issue a lot, and that is the criminal news i.e. jail bookings. One, because it only tells one side of the story; probable cause affidavits typically tell the victim’s side, then the other side of the story awaits until trial, if that even ever happens.

And, let’s be honest, it’s like a big game of telephone, whereby attorneys tell stories that are “sorta-kinda-accurate” to people that weren’t in a lot of cases smart enough to dodge the jury pool. and perhaps even worse… There’s always some people there that want to “fry” everyone; so, there’s nothing worse than sitting there in the hot seat as a person, who is awaiting his/her fair and unbiased trial in an court of American law, to hear the words from one potential juror saying, “Well, I figure if he’s sitting here, he must be guilty!”

True story. I saw and heard it with my own eyes and ears. Another juror, who was the wife of another police officer, was surely unbiased, too, I concluded, as well. As for the cops on the scene, yeah, I believe four are now in jail themselves from that one.

But on to brighter, more positive? thought process… because I really want to address this crime issue.

Let’s face it, people love it! People just love gossip, and even better if it’s half propped up by a signed affidavit. A signed affidavit. Give me a minute or two, and you too can sign a sworn affidavit! Ant any event….

Oh, X got arrested, did you hear about X?! it drives traffic… tons of it… but The Lintonian is not about traffic… In fact, I have a funny story about that… hear me out… at least it’s amusing to me, maybe not you, but it goes something like this:

Sometime in Junior High, I was elevated to a high school teacher as my instructor, and there she was: Mrs. Herman. She was a smart lady with entirely too many red ink pens in her desk drawers, and she became my arch-nemesis because she knew how to use said ink pens. Yes, evil. Complete evil. My papers went from the “Great job!” remarks of elementary school to bleeding red ink. Profusely bleeding. Tourniquet-style bleeding. I’m not exaggerating in the least: Bleeding. Red. Ink.

Then I went to The Academy, where they thought during the initial interview that Brand X was actually my school’s newspaper, applauding it as a mighty fine work. When they learned otherwise, the staff quickly instructed my parents that they should get me a subscription to The Wall Street Journal or New York Times — immediately.

But I learned. I learned from the new subscription — and all of the new red ink too.

Towards the end of the year, I even worked up the courage to submit a paper entitled, “Billy Shakespeare: Male Prostitute.” I received a B+, I believe, and a stern warning to never use that sort of title in my college work, as the professors likely spent their entire lives researching X) paper. as it was, although a great theory, it lacked. It was a gift to receive the B+ in hindsight.

But somewhat where I started this diatribe:

That said, I merely just moved on to a more sadistic instructor(s), such as Benedictine monks with two or three PhDs telling you to write a 10-page paper and be sure to be able to defend each and every word. Once submitted, the prof would say, now write it as a one-pager, but don’t skip any of the big ideas. Uh, yeah…

PS – I reconceived a C on a paper considering morality, The paper was on what you would do if your room mate came home with a gal and hung a sock on the doorknob. I said if it wasn’t often nor did I have alternatives,

I would let it be. Think back to college…. lots of altenagtives.

Yet, I know here’s SOMEONE out there that wants to challenge, so be it:

“Aquinas follows Aristotle in thinking that an act is good or bad depending on whether it contributes to or deters us from our proper human end—the telos or final goal at which all human actions aim. That telos is eudaimonia, or happiness, where “happiness” is understood in terms of completion, perfection, or well-being. Achieving happiness, however, requires a range of intellectual and moral virtues that enable us to understand the nature of happiness and motivate us to seek it in a reliable and consistent way.”

Long story short, the monk co-instructor couldn’t give me a good grade because it under-minded the entire reason he was there. Sometimes I show up in the wrong places, that’s all I have to say. Anyway, back to the writing:

Sadistic. Try it. It’s extremely difficult.

In any regard, the point is, people keep telling me they enjoy the writing, and the area needs news coverage (budget cuts even on-air recently, right?), so I’m firing it back up to provide a much needed service to the community, my hometown.

That said, I hope you understand that ‘crime’ will be placed in a new category online. Look towards the top navigation, and you’ll see ‘crime’. That way, if you want to see crime, there you go. Otherwise, it doesn’t make our community look like a crime-ridden bastion to hell.

More tweaks and turns to come, so stay tuned! I’ve always enjoyed Sunday Morning on TV, too, so I hope to bring more in-depth, human stories here, as well.

May you and yours have a great Sunday — hopefully with family — and a little bit of rest to take on and conquer next week!