Everybody has a day job. Mine tends to follow me around a lot.
During my first year working at the Lake County Record-Bee, I received phone calls at home from people trying to pitch stories to me. The operator with whom my husband and I set up residential telephone service was far more interested in trying to sell further options than in listening to me when I asked that our directory listing be in my husband”s name. So for at least one year, people were able to find me under “Parkhill” in the telephone directory.
Just when I thought I”d gotten the matter straightened out ? the telephone company released its new directory and my name was no longer visible ? another caller bothered me at home. Upon interrogating the latest invasive caller, I discovered that my name was still visible in a competing directory. It had apparently compiled its listings from information that was at least one year behind, which meant that for one more year, I was in a Lake County phone book.
Planned obsolescence eventually guaranteed that the directories listing my name were finally retired.
It hasn”t been so easy to escape an association with the Lake County Record-Bee when interacting face-to-face.
Not that I am in any way ashamed of working for the local media; it”s just that when I go to church or when I join a group, I shouldn”t automatically be assumed to be “covering” the event. I shouldn”t have to act as the paper”s “complaint department” during my private time.
I don”t care that the Record-Bee no longer carries “TV Spotlight.” I have no answer why the Record-Bee has not published your letter to the editor ? and unless you”ve also submitted your letter to the Clear Lake Observer American, the closest I will ever get to your letter is reading it in the Record-Bee.
Which leads me to another grievance, which may seem inconsistent but is relevant nonetheless. While I am constantly being subjected to complaints about the Lake County Record-Bee, I am continually overlooked as editor of the Clear Lake Observer American.
Actually, to be more specific, the entire Observer American is continually overlooked.
Let an article run in the Record-Bee to which someone has an objection, and a flurry of letters soon follow. But let the exact same article appear in the Observer American and those letter writers ignore it.
More often than not, when people do send letters responding to an article, it is to an article that they only read in the Lake County Record-Bee, whether they send it to me or not.
I have the ability to reprint any letters I see in the Record-Bee, but in all fairness people should read and pay attention to the Clear Lake Observer American. They should craft letters that specifically respond to the articles it contains and then send them to that paper”s editor.
They should also remember the weekly paper”s deadlines and not wait until Tuesday afternoon to send me press releases. It”s just another reminder to me that they neither read, nor care about, the Clear Lake Observer American.
So, next time you see me at an event ? absent a pen and notebook ? please abstain from complaining to me about the Lake County Record-Bee. For that matter, don”t complain to me about the Clear Lake Observer American. I won”t see that as improvement. The point that I am trying to make is that I get time off, just like everybody else, but that when I am on the job, I would appreciate people caring more about the Observer American.
Cynthia Parkhill is the focus pages editor for the record-Bee and editor of the Clear Lake Observer-American. She can be contacted at ObserverAmerican@gmail.com or 263-5636 ext. 39.
