LEWISTON SUN JOURNAL – NEWSPAPER OR TABLOID???
The question here is whether or not the Lewiston Sun Journal
is a newspaper or a tabloid. Every now
and then, the Lewiston Sun Journal publishes guidelines for Letters to the
Editor.
Now according to the guidelines “The Sun Journal welcomes
readers to express their views in the hope these expressions provide a forum
for debate.” It goes on to say “Letters
to the Sun Journal should be expressions of the writer’s opinion, not copies of
opinions from other sources.” Apparently
these are only words that have no meaning because a resident of
Lisbon Falls submitted a Letter to the Editor which I have enclosed. His letter referenced an Appeals Board
Hearing where the Public was denied the right to speak during the Public
Hearing portion of the meeting.
Is Free Speech Dead
at Lisbon “Public Hearings”?
A couple years ago Lisbon Councilors decided to silence
their critics by severely limiting public input at Lisbon Council Meetings. They
decided to only allow the public to speak on items directly related to an
agenda item.
About a month ago the Lisbon Appeals Board went a step
further by refusing to take any input from the public at an Appeals Board
“public hearing”. Chairman Morgan-Alexander stopped a Lisbon resident from
giving relevant safety testimony at this public hearing. She allowed the applicant and abutters to
speak but refused to let the public give opposing relevant testimony.
According to an MMA (Maine Municipal Association) guideline
this type of meeting is considered a quasi-legal hearing and is regulated by
different guidelines than a legislative public hearing. If these guidelines are not strictly adhered
to the results of the hearing may be subject to costly litigation.
Questions raised by refusing to adhere to MMA guidelines.
What is the purpose of “Public Hearings” if not to hear from
the public?
How can the public voice its opposition to unsafe conditions
when the Appeals Board refuses to let the public speak?
Has the equal protection requirement
been fulfilled when members from the public are not allowed to speak?
This was an appeals board meeting advertised as a “public
hearing”.
It appears Free Speech is on life support in Lisbon.
Ed Stacey
Lisbon Falls
Please review the guidelines the Lewiston Sun Journal
published and see if you can see why the letter was not published? I can verify the Sun Journal called me
personally to confirm the facts in the letter and I confirmed it all. A newspaper would publish the facts to the
people. I believe the mission of a
newspaper is to educate their readers in just what is going on in their area.
I contacted concerned citizens in Rumford, Peru, Livermore and Lisbon
and come to find out the Lewiston Sun Journal will NOT publish any derogatory
information about any towns in the area regardless the validity of the
information. If the Lewiston Sun
Journal is not going to publish all the facts and censors free speech, then it is nothing more than a tabloid.
How can the Day Editor, Ms. Judy Meyer, not publish Letters
to the Editor that meet the guidelines of the Lewiston Sun Journal? Ms. Meyer wears two hats. She
is the Day Editor of the Lewiston Sun Journal and she represents the Newspaper
Publishers on the State of Maine Right to Know Advisory Committee. After denying citizens right to free speech
by not publishing Letters to the Editor; how can Ms. Meyer sit on the Rights to
Know Advisory Committee. The Rights to Know Advisory Committee
suggests that the people have a right to express their opinions in Letters to
the Editor without censorship by Ms. Meyer. How can the owners of the Lewiston Sun Journal
ask residents to submit their opinions and then deny letters that meet all of
their guidelines?
The reporter for Lisbon is Ms. Paula Gibbs. Ms. Gibbs does no cover every Town Council
meeting but the ones she does cover she leaves in the middle of the meeting and
only reports half of what came out in the meetings. I contacted other towns and the individuals
that cover their meeting for the Lewiston Sun Journal does not publish
everything that took place at their meetings.
So what is the point of only providing half the information put out in
these meetings? How can subscribers depend on the Lewiston Sun Journal for their
news?
I believe subscribers
should know that the Lewiston Sun Journal does NOT provide all the information
that goes on in this area.
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