| The Rhea County Newspaper |
| "Rhea County's REAL Information Source" |
| I want to get something off my chest but cannot do it since the Herald-News for some reason no longer has their Sound Off column so I am coming to you, Mr. Cryler, with my complaint. I was reading my paper and noticed that there is an advertisement for a liquor store, a rather large advertisement near the front of the newspaper. I enjoy reading the Bible verse the Herald-News prints on the very front page of their newspaper. I felt it represented what our community is all about. A bunch of good Christian people who enjoy living in a "dry" county. However, I found it quite hypocritical of the Herald-News to place such a big advertisement to sell something in which we do not allow the purchase of in our Christian Community. I am very upset about this. Thank you for letting me sound it off on your website Mr. Cryler. |
I decided to take an Unpaid day off from this Unpaid editor position I got cornered into. Heck, with
that sort of thinking I need to relocate to Roane County and run for constable. No wait, they are on
the verge of abolishing them there, oh well...
Upon my return, I checked my e-mail and read this "gripe", or "concern" (I guess it really doesn't
matter what it's called) but instead of copy and pasting the letter into the message board or pasting it
into the gripe page, I took an interest in it because I had totally overlooked the advertisement in
which the writer was referring. An advertisement for a liquor store in the saintly Herald-News?
Unheard of!
People, this is how I read the Herald-News. On Wednesday I will buy a newspaper and pay 50 cents
for it. I bring it home, sit down and see what is on the front page. I usually already pretty much know
what's going to be the "headline" because all that is needed to figure that one out is a modest
awareness, a brain and the ability to absorb information. Then again, the fact that the headliner
happened like 4 days ago helps...
Anyway, I scamper down page 1 and see what the three, sometimes four big headlines are and
usually end up forcing myself to read them, at least most of it anyways. I mean sometimes reading
the Herald-News is as much fun as watching paint dry. That's the sweetness of
RheaCountyNewspaper.com, we do not do this for the money, we do it because we want to do it. We
do not have to worry about who gets pissed off. With that in mind, we report facts and have fun doing
it in a REAL freedom of expression sort of way.
In a way it is the ultimate feeling to be able to express yourself without restrictions other than self
imposed ones. Sure, there is that degree of "oh lord, what in the heck am I doing" and similar
thoughts that occasionally pop inside my mind. But what do we do? Crawl in a hole because some
dude may get mad?
I reckon I have come to the realization that "we can't get out of life, alive". So why bother worrying
about what some person who you probably don't even like anyways says or acts like he wants to do
something to you for whatever the reason.
To do the things in life that "we actually want to do", then that can be considered a reward within
itself. In that regard, we few people that are involved in this alternative online newspaper can just
type it up, send it out there and see what happens. I have found that it pisses a few people off (the
truth normally does) but it seems the biggest number of the people seem to be like an "amen corner".
People gravitate to this sort of thing.
It's like people want to speak up and say something, but they hesitate and usually end up not
standing up and speaking at all. But they want what needs to be said...said...just not them doing the
saying...In other words let the dumb looking guy over in the corner say it....
Hey, why is everyone looking at me?
Well, back to my story. I open up and look at the December 19 edition of the Herald-News and low
and behold there it was, a liquor advertisement. I mean hey, I was ready to toss the Herald in the
trash because I really didn't see much to pick at and nothing really major has happened until I saw
that Devil Ad.
Normally I pride myself in being very observant. I have grown to learn it is a wise thing to do. But
when I read this liquor advertisement, I flipped back to page 1 and glanced down at the Bible verse
faithfully placed at the bottom of every issue. This confused me.
I flip back and look at the liquor ad again and then continue to the very next page and guess what I
saw? You guessed it, I saw a letter written from "Jesus Christ" Himself!!!
Now I do NOT want to sound overly critical and I am the first to admit that I am far from being
perfect. But if you read page A-4 of the Herald-News you see the title, "A Christmas message to you
from someone very special".
Now if you start reading the "message from someone special" story, whoever wrote this first
paragraph needs to be nominated for some sort of award. Whoever wrote it says of this special
message, "The author appears to be anonymous, but we think the message is too important to
pass up". Okay, so the Herald says that whoever wrote the letter was "anonymous" but amazingly at
the very end of the letter it is signed, "I love you, Jesus". Not very anonymous is it?
Seems easy enough. Jesus obviously wrote the letter. Then again, apparently the Herald-News does
not really believe that Jesus wrote the letter, yet they print it anyways. What makes me say this?
Well, the Herald clearly states that the letter or message "appeared anonymous". That got them off
the hook for some sort of potential copyright infraction.
So to make a long story short, the Herald-News once again portrays itself to be a homely, Christian
newspaper, even starting the issue off with a nice Bible verse on the front page. Then you flip to page
A-2 where you find half of the page being advertisements. Then you glance over to page A-3 where
you see half obituaries (not free - do you not have to pay for the obits now?) and the entire other
half of the page is 2 big advertisements, one almost one-quarter page being the "liquor ad".
I'm certain the Herald-news has some sort of explanation for their hypocricy, but the bottom line is
the Herald wanted the almighty advertising dollar. They could have rejected the advertisement on
moral grounds alone. Why would the Herald-news, a newspaper where Jesus Christ himself had a
letter published in, promote the buying and drinking of liquor in Rhea County? How dumb do these
jack offs at the Herald-News think we all are?
It also makes you wonder just why the liquor store even wanted to advertise in Dayton in the first
place. I thought Rhea County was full of good Christians and didn't drink or anything? Isn't that not
the truth? Okay, I need to stop typing for a second because I swear, I feel faint...
Maybe Billy Ray Panderer, I mean Patton, should promote liquor by the drink and collect his taxes
there. Why not? What is the difference in buying a fifth of liquor in Hixson and driving back to
Dayton to drink it "responsibly" or buying it in Dayton and collecting the tax off of it?
I mean, why not?
After all the Herald-News is now promoting liquor enticing our precious children to drink liquor in
the form of accepting the "sinful" liquor advertisements of the Devil himself. And then on top of all of
that, they turn around and place a letter on page 4 and try to pass the letter off as if Jesus wrote it,
while at the same time knowing all along that Jesus didn't write it. If Jesus wrote it then I'm certain
it would be public domain and no copyright disclaimer hidden in the words "it appears the author is
anonymous to us" would be needed.
People, do not get me wrong. I am not knocking the Herald-News. I am going to wait and knock them
once I figure out exactly why the weekend edition cost $1.00 while the Wednesday edition cost 50
cents. Check it out, scan the newspaper.
In both editions they each have a Part A and a Part B and they each contain more advertising than
they do tangible informative stories. They each contain "filler" stories to fill in the gaps between ads.
Then they charge a higher rate for advertising by claiming a circulation of 13,700 which is almost as
many registered voters in Rhea County. Almost half the total population. Sorry folks I do not buy in
to that no more than I buy into the Bible verses on page 1, liquor ads on page 3, letters from the Son
of God Jesus Christ himself on page 4 along with a page full of religion on page 5. Then it's just ad
after ad after ad.
Sure, the letter professed to have been written by Jesus was inspirational and did carry with it a
message. The Herald-News should be applauded for it's focus on Christian principles that many Rhea
Countians live by in one way or the other. However, on the other hand, the Herald-News must once
again come into ridicule this time for the "dangling" the carrot of the "liquor ad" in the faces of all who
see it.
So to you, the person who sent this to me, click here and you can watch a short animation about John
3:16 which in a way, says it all.
You people should call the Herald-News and demand that they stop accepting ads promoting liquor
or remove the Bible verses from the front page.
The way I see it, you can get drunk. You can read a Bible. The kicker is, you can't get drunk and
read a Bible at the same time.
They just can't have it both ways, not anymore they can't. That's the ultimate "no brainer" and
eventually it will start to sink in to their heads as time goes by.
that sort of thinking I need to relocate to Roane County and run for constable. No wait, they are on
the verge of abolishing them there, oh well...
Upon my return, I checked my e-mail and read this "gripe", or "concern" (I guess it really doesn't
matter what it's called) but instead of copy and pasting the letter into the message board or pasting it
into the gripe page, I took an interest in it because I had totally overlooked the advertisement in
which the writer was referring. An advertisement for a liquor store in the saintly Herald-News?
Unheard of!
People, this is how I read the Herald-News. On Wednesday I will buy a newspaper and pay 50 cents
for it. I bring it home, sit down and see what is on the front page. I usually already pretty much know
what's going to be the "headline" because all that is needed to figure that one out is a modest
awareness, a brain and the ability to absorb information. Then again, the fact that the headliner
happened like 4 days ago helps...
Anyway, I scamper down page 1 and see what the three, sometimes four big headlines are and
usually end up forcing myself to read them, at least most of it anyways. I mean sometimes reading
the Herald-News is as much fun as watching paint dry. That's the sweetness of
RheaCountyNewspaper.com, we do not do this for the money, we do it because we want to do it. We
do not have to worry about who gets pissed off. With that in mind, we report facts and have fun doing
it in a REAL freedom of expression sort of way.
In a way it is the ultimate feeling to be able to express yourself without restrictions other than self
imposed ones. Sure, there is that degree of "oh lord, what in the heck am I doing" and similar
thoughts that occasionally pop inside my mind. But what do we do? Crawl in a hole because some
dude may get mad?
I reckon I have come to the realization that "we can't get out of life, alive". So why bother worrying
about what some person who you probably don't even like anyways says or acts like he wants to do
something to you for whatever the reason.
To do the things in life that "we actually want to do", then that can be considered a reward within
itself. In that regard, we few people that are involved in this alternative online newspaper can just
type it up, send it out there and see what happens. I have found that it pisses a few people off (the
truth normally does) but it seems the biggest number of the people seem to be like an "amen corner".
People gravitate to this sort of thing.
It's like people want to speak up and say something, but they hesitate and usually end up not
standing up and speaking at all. But they want what needs to be said...said...just not them doing the
saying...In other words let the dumb looking guy over in the corner say it....
Hey, why is everyone looking at me?
Well, back to my story. I open up and look at the December 19 edition of the Herald-News and low
and behold there it was, a liquor advertisement. I mean hey, I was ready to toss the Herald in the
trash because I really didn't see much to pick at and nothing really major has happened until I saw
that Devil Ad.
Normally I pride myself in being very observant. I have grown to learn it is a wise thing to do. But
when I read this liquor advertisement, I flipped back to page 1 and glanced down at the Bible verse
faithfully placed at the bottom of every issue. This confused me.
I flip back and look at the liquor ad again and then continue to the very next page and guess what I
saw? You guessed it, I saw a letter written from "Jesus Christ" Himself!!!
Now I do NOT want to sound overly critical and I am the first to admit that I am far from being
perfect. But if you read page A-4 of the Herald-News you see the title, "A Christmas message to you
from someone very special".
Now if you start reading the "message from someone special" story, whoever wrote this first
paragraph needs to be nominated for some sort of award. Whoever wrote it says of this special
message, "The author appears to be anonymous, but we think the message is too important to
pass up". Okay, so the Herald says that whoever wrote the letter was "anonymous" but amazingly at
the very end of the letter it is signed, "I love you, Jesus". Not very anonymous is it?
Seems easy enough. Jesus obviously wrote the letter. Then again, apparently the Herald-News does
not really believe that Jesus wrote the letter, yet they print it anyways. What makes me say this?
Well, the Herald clearly states that the letter or message "appeared anonymous". That got them off
the hook for some sort of potential copyright infraction.
So to make a long story short, the Herald-News once again portrays itself to be a homely, Christian
newspaper, even starting the issue off with a nice Bible verse on the front page. Then you flip to page
A-2 where you find half of the page being advertisements. Then you glance over to page A-3 where
you see half obituaries (not free - do you not have to pay for the obits now?) and the entire other
half of the page is 2 big advertisements, one almost one-quarter page being the "liquor ad".
I'm certain the Herald-news has some sort of explanation for their hypocricy, but the bottom line is
the Herald wanted the almighty advertising dollar. They could have rejected the advertisement on
moral grounds alone. Why would the Herald-news, a newspaper where Jesus Christ himself had a
letter published in, promote the buying and drinking of liquor in Rhea County? How dumb do these
jack offs at the Herald-News think we all are?
It also makes you wonder just why the liquor store even wanted to advertise in Dayton in the first
place. I thought Rhea County was full of good Christians and didn't drink or anything? Isn't that not
the truth? Okay, I need to stop typing for a second because I swear, I feel faint...
Maybe Billy Ray Panderer, I mean Patton, should promote liquor by the drink and collect his taxes
there. Why not? What is the difference in buying a fifth of liquor in Hixson and driving back to
Dayton to drink it "responsibly" or buying it in Dayton and collecting the tax off of it?
I mean, why not?
After all the Herald-News is now promoting liquor enticing our precious children to drink liquor in
the form of accepting the "sinful" liquor advertisements of the Devil himself. And then on top of all of
that, they turn around and place a letter on page 4 and try to pass the letter off as if Jesus wrote it,
while at the same time knowing all along that Jesus didn't write it. If Jesus wrote it then I'm certain
it would be public domain and no copyright disclaimer hidden in the words "it appears the author is
anonymous to us" would be needed.
People, do not get me wrong. I am not knocking the Herald-News. I am going to wait and knock them
once I figure out exactly why the weekend edition cost $1.00 while the Wednesday edition cost 50
cents. Check it out, scan the newspaper.
In both editions they each have a Part A and a Part B and they each contain more advertising than
they do tangible informative stories. They each contain "filler" stories to fill in the gaps between ads.
Then they charge a higher rate for advertising by claiming a circulation of 13,700 which is almost as
many registered voters in Rhea County. Almost half the total population. Sorry folks I do not buy in
to that no more than I buy into the Bible verses on page 1, liquor ads on page 3, letters from the Son
of God Jesus Christ himself on page 4 along with a page full of religion on page 5. Then it's just ad
after ad after ad.
Sure, the letter professed to have been written by Jesus was inspirational and did carry with it a
message. The Herald-News should be applauded for it's focus on Christian principles that many Rhea
Countians live by in one way or the other. However, on the other hand, the Herald-News must once
again come into ridicule this time for the "dangling" the carrot of the "liquor ad" in the faces of all who
see it.
So to you, the person who sent this to me, click here and you can watch a short animation about John
3:16 which in a way, says it all.
You people should call the Herald-News and demand that they stop accepting ads promoting liquor
or remove the Bible verses from the front page.
The way I see it, you can get drunk. You can read a Bible. The kicker is, you can't get drunk and
read a Bible at the same time.
They just can't have it both ways, not anymore they can't. That's the ultimate "no brainer" and
eventually it will start to sink in to their heads as time goes by.
| Small town newspaper serves three masters; Jesus, Liquor and Money Crakston Cryler, editor |
