Editorial: "Authorities are to 'protect and serve'"

That's what I'm talkin' about. The unnamed Courier editor gets a cookie. Police officers who act like frat yobbos should be taken out and, I don't know, have their heads shaved or something.

Wiederaenders: "'Handle' it - just remember to smile"

Heartwarming, Tim. It would fit great between Angus and Heloise. On the op-ed page it's cheese whiz.

Letters: Grumble, grumble

Rowle made a big mistake in saying that he'd got no complaints about the roundabout, it was like a bugle call for volunteers. A little sensible balance comes from an out-of-state reader (why?).

A3: "PVPD suspends K-9 dog again, victim suffers minor injuries"

Police dog scratches handcuffed woman. From the story it seems like awfully small potatoes to rate a quarter page, but there's widespread public distrust of the dog program because the same dog mauled a jogger last year. It'd be really easy to conclude that PVPD is a little slack about handling its dogs. I just can't be confident we're getting the whole story, it feels incomplete and it feeds into public fear.

A1: "Principal resigns weeks after student protest"

You know, this story has been bugging me for weeks. Through the quotes we get lots of opinion -- all on one side since the now-ex-principal refused to play -- but I'm finding very few facts in the coverage. Should we be satisfied that a public high-school staff has just exploded, leaving a bunch of kids minus both a couple of teachers they apparently loved and a principal cast as the heavy, and we know next to nothing about what actually happened?

A1: "Wildfire report raises concerns of gun range neighbors"

Yeah, if the business next door was setting my neighborhood on fire, I'd be a little concerned too. Anybody else think the shooting range is getting kid-gloves treatment here? It's not like it hasn't happened before.

A1: "Campaign committee disputes complaint but willing to settle"

We have a huge fight going on right now over a state budget that will affect every one of us, with the potential for great good and great harm depending on how it shakes out, and nary a word about it in the Courier. But an offer of a $167 settlement in a political pissing match -- just an offer, mind, no actual news here -- rates page-one ink. What a world.