Letter writers contribute to long-lasting history

I’m keeping this week’s column brief. In case you haven’t noticed, we have a lot of letters – more than 20 at last count – and our space is limited.


For some unexplained reason, The Gazette, as well as many other newspapers, receives more letters than usual around times of the full moon. This month, the full moon fell on Feb. 18, which is the date we received many of these letters for publication. I understand hospitals and police officers also deal with more calls than usual around the time of the full moon, so this phenomenon is not limited to people in the newspaper industry. Maybe the full moon puts something in the air that causes people to become more vocal.

Or, maybe it’s because the times are calling for it. From a historical perspective, the events taking place in Madison are extraordinary, and many of this week’s letter writers are offering opinions about them on both sides of the issue. No matter what opinion people may offer, we’re always happy to give people a venue to express opinions as long as they are in the form of a letter that adheres to our policies (poetry, short-fiction and copyrighted material are not allowed).

These policies include not exceeding 500 words (although we occasionally let this slip if the overage isn’t a lot), limiting writers to one letter every four weeks (some people would write weekly if allowed to do so), and meeting our 5 p.m. Monday deadline (people submitting on Tuesday or after aren’t guaranteed a spot).

The Gazette reserves the right to edit, delete or reject letters or portions of letters. I sometimes edit letters for length (if they are too long, I’ll chop out what I feel are the most unnecessary portions to bring them to 500 words), and I’ll change items I know are wrong. Since the letter is the opinion of the writer, and not The Gazette, we limit this fact checking. Readers just need to be aware many of these opinions probably have a counter-opinion that can be backed up with contrary facts.

Letters are important because of the long-lasting historical record that is created when a newspaper is published. One hundred years from now, people using this paper for research may be able to pull a letter to use as evidence to support theories and conclusions they have about certain events.

So, thank you letter writers for contributing to our history. That’s the beauty of our democracy, even with all of its flaws.