The First Day of Grinchmas

On the first day of Grinchmas, the Grinches want to see... The Portsmouth Times in bankruptcy. The Portsmouth Daily Times was first published in 1852. For over 150 years, it has been a faithful friend to the citizens of Portsmouth. It has told us about the world, employed our neighbors, and entertained us. It has announced our community's births, marriages, and deaths. Thanks to the Times, we know where the yard sales are, what churches have special services, and what ten items you can get for $10 at Krogers. The Times has struggled. It's not perfect. It's not what it once was, but what in Portsmouth is? As our city has struggled and tried to adjust to its financial constraints, so has the Portsmouth Times. The cutbacks are noticeable. It's easy to criticize the paper. But it's just as easy to praise it, if we choose. Their coverage of local events and sports is good. It's still a good place for many businesses to advertise. Most of all it is a reliable and important public institution. In an era when all newspapers are struggling and many are failing, Portsmouth is extremely fortunate to have a local paper. It provides jobs and is a small but significant part of our tax base. We believe the paper is vital to morale of our community. It has a circulation of 13,000 and covers much of Ohio and Kentucky. It would be a real blow to Portsmouth's prestige if the Daily Times ever went away. BUT THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT THE C.A.V.E. PEOPLE WANT. Of all the CAVE People, ex-professor Robert Forrey is probably the Grinchiest. All he needs is a shabby Santa suit and a dab of green face powder and he would be a dead ringer. (Actually, he doesn't even need the makeup.) So of course he would love to see the death of the Times. Here are some things that Forrey (originally for Massachusetts) has said about our newspaper, on his execrable excuse for a website: "People who really want progress in Portsmouth should take a pledge not to buy the incredibly shrinking newspaper." "Everyone should just say no to the Portsmouth Daily Times." "The Prostitute Daily Times." (Oh, professor, you're so clever.) "The Little Shop of Horrors." "Our anorexic local newspaper." "It pays not to advertise." "I look forward to the day when there are no prostitutes or PDT dispensers on the street corners of Portsmouth." Forrey's fellow traveler and alleged tax cheat, Austin Leedom, on his nasty little website, has his mind in the same gutter. He must be more religious than Forrey, because he calls the Times the "Anti-Christ Newspaper." He, like other CAVE People, frequently calls for its boycotting. "Boycott Portsmouth Daily Times - Editor Jason Lovins urges Democracy to be set aside. Adolph Hitler talked same way in Germany in mid-1930s. Be patriotic, why support Un-American propaganda? If you are a subscriber, cancel now. Save your money; stop patronizing businesses that advertise with the Daily Times until Jason Lovins is gone from Daily Times." This is just one example. Teresa Mollette, the embarrassing "bitter half" of a recently defeated city councilman, uses her sorry excuses for websites to constantly criticize the Times for not agreeing with her vaunted opinions. The following plea is typical: "I encourage everyone in the community to voice their NONsupport of the PDT." On her website she stated that she cancelled her subscription to the Portsmouth Times AND Scioto Voice and wished she could cancel the delivery of the free newspaper, the Community Common, to her doorstep. She ended her rant by explaining that all you really need to know in Portsmouth can be found at the two websites that she runs. (Check her arrogant statements out for yourself, by clicking here.) And that's really what these internet freaks of nature would really love to see. No real news. Only their paranoid delusional internet propaganda. If you had any doubt, the hatred of the CAVE People for the Portsmouth Times should make it clear that they do not want the best for Portsmouth. They don't call for the paper to be better, or to have more revenue to hire more staff and print more pages. They call for it to fail. The impact of the failure of the Times on our community would be hard to estimate, but at the least it would a crippling spiritual blow to the citizens. It would mean no sharing of our children's sports and academic highlights. No obituaries of our loved ones. No reporting of progress and struggles of our town. No chance for your child to be a paper boy or girl. Dozens of people out of work. The end of the Times, if and when it comes, will be a sad day in Portsmouth. But not for the internet Grinches. They will celebrate. They will have a collective internet orgasm. They will probably dance like witches around a boiling cauldron. Anti-CAVE ACTION!! What can we do to counteract the hateful influences of the CAVE People? Here are a few suggestions: 1. Write a letter of appreciation to the Times, perhaps, to individual reporters, even if you don't always agree with them. Encourage these folks who have a demanding job and who are, in a real sense, servants of the public. 2. Resist the temptation to be a Grinch. One of the worst faults of human nature it the tendency to criticize others rather than to encourage. 3. Consider subscribing if you don't already get the paper. If you do, buy an extra copy now and then. It's just 50 cents. Leave it in the break room. 4. Advertise. If you have a business, call the Times and see what specials they have. Several churches have done very well with small, inexpensive front page ads. 5. LIE TO THE TIMES! Call them up and tell them they're the greatest newspaper ever. Maybe they will be!