By Staff
The unfortunate part about covering city council meetings and other such gatherings which occur on deadline is that inevitably something isn't given the space it deserves, at least not in the edition of the paper immediately following the event. Hundreds, maybe thousands of words are spoken at such a gathering, but inevitably some of them are left out in the paper that hits the streets the following morning.
There simply isn't always enough time between a Tuesday evening meeting and a Wednesday morning paper to give all the issues covered all the ink they deserve.
But we know that all the issues are important to our readers. That's why our practice at The Standard is to use the days and weeks following an eventful city council meeting to expand on the issues citizens and our elected officials brought up that Tuesday night. What we write for Wednesday is often, in effect, an outline that will be expanded upon in the next several editions of the paper.
This past week's city council meeting coverage was no different, in that it raised many issues we'll be expanding upon in the papers to come. One such issue was the suggestion by Councilman Dennis Dunaway that the city look into bringing an organization called Communities that Care to Brewton. Dunaway's suggestion is a good one, which the city would do well to pursue further -- and which we will enjoy telling you more about as time goes by. Communities that Care is, in a nutshell, an organization that provides a framework of activities aimed at building positive, healthy futures for children. It makes use of consulting and evaluative phases to help communities structure healthy activities for kids, and to head off destructive behaviors like substance abuse and delinquency. And, Dunaway said during the meeting, it does so without taking the place of already established youth-oriented service organizations.
At first blush, this sounds like it could be a positive development for the city's young people. The city should definitely look into the possibilities here, and The Brewton Standard looks forward to educating ourselves and our readers on the subject.
– JDJ