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Publisher's Note
As the Publisher of the PCN&R I have decided that we will not print any additional Letters to the Editor regarding the recent experience of a customer at a particular retail establishment. The letter that was printed regarding a local resident's opinion of how he and his family were treated was a valid expression of opinion. The following week we printed other perspectives of the same business, giving balance to the first letter. This week we again received numerous letters, both pro and con, of the business in question. It has become apparent that these back and forth opinions could become never-ending and unproductive and it is appropriate to end the discussion. In the interest of full disclosure, we also received a letter this week criticizing the PCN&R for publishing the original letter and some verbal comments from readers supporting our decision.
Contrary to one "not for publication" email we received, the PCN&R has always adhered to a policy of printing all Letters to the Editor that meet our length, identification and libel rules. We intend to continue that policy. We do, however, reserve the right to stop discussions when they become unproductive. There have been very few occasions over the past 10 years when we have refused to print a letter. We have a file available for anyone to examine which contains recent letters that we have not printed, primarily because they were unsigned or could not be verified.
The PCN&R feels strongly that the Letters to the Editor section is our Readers' venue for expressing their feelings about items in the community and beyond. We do not print letters that concern issues between private individuals. However, businesses are not private individuals and are treated as public entities. We consider those discussions a valuable reflection on businesses and their (our) ability to provide their customers a better shopping/dining/etc. experience.
I would ask that letter writers, when communicating about businesses, do so in a constructive manner so that the business and the larger community can improve and grow.
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