Author Gives Thumbs Up to Herald Spout Off

To The Editor:
While talking with a friend from New England this last week about local newspapers, we noted two things of quality in the Herald make it an excellent local paper.
First, you print the unmuzzled, unedited, unrestricted (and unsigned) voice of the people in the Spout Off section. Some of the comments are surely bizarre, but others must make those in authority cringe when they read what the public thinks about the actions of some of their departments.
Members of a free society rely on a venue like Spout Off in which to have their voices heard without fear of retribution. Please don’t let political pressures ever muzzle the Spout Off as an open channel for the public to express its views.
Secondly, you report the good, the bad, and the ugly of local news without adding your own “spin,” (I nearly split my sides when I read the story about the “port-o-potties” gracing the entrance to Cape May.) Even though those in positions of authority may wish that the paper did otherwise, your reporters manage to quote persons who are on each side of issues so that a balance of facts … and political spin in both directions…is printed in the reports.
Thank you. Those two things make every page of the Herald worth reading every week.
WALTER CHEW
Green Creek