The Tale of Two Newspapers

The last two editions of the Webster-Kirkwood Times have shown just how out of touch with reality their editors really are with the community of Kirkwood. It is interesting how certain rules apply or do not apply for Kirkwood when it comes to Mailbag letters.

In the June 27th edition you had two Mailbag letters dealing with the community of Kirkwood.

The first was from Jen Hendricks on the issue of curbside recycling. Ms. Hendricks incorrectly asked why we did not have curbside recycling? Yet, we have had curbside recycling available to us since 1997 from a private hauler, Earth Circle Recycling. The Times’ editors should have known this was the case since they just got paid by City Hall for an “Eye On Kirkwood” full-page ad in the May 30th edition. In that ad the curbside recycling service was mentioned. Yet, no editors note clarifying the issue was placed with the Mailbag letter. This makes one wonder why the editors failed to place a note on this letter, when they have done this on other issues in other communities in the past.

In fact, in this past week’s edition we have a totally different story with Mr. Greg Marecek’s letter about signage for the Dairy Queen in Webster Groves. When Mr. Marecek incorrectly complained that the City if Webster Groves denied DQ a letter sign while allowing Flowerama to have a letter sign, there was an editors note. It seems Flowerama is in Shrewsbury and not Webster Groves, so the editors noted it.

This makes one wonder why the editors of the Times are just so keen on clarifying issues in Webster Groves and other communities, but do not seem to care about properly informing folks in Kirkwood on an issue? Could it be that the editorial bent of Mr. Bitikofer and Mr. Corrigan keeps them more interested in creating controversy in Kirkwood than being a news organization in our community?

No … come on Joe that just can not be the case … right? The Times does not have a bent. Remember Joe … Don “Scoop” Corrigan declares he has … “No Dog In That Fight.”

Well then there is the second Mailbag letter from the June 27th edition about the community of Kirkwood. It was some bizarre diatribe of nonsense from City Council candidate Michael Moore. What is interesting is that it was a 337-word long Mailbag letter. This is very interesting that Mr. Moore would be given the opportunity to have a letter of his printed just one week and one month away from an election. Will the Times’ be printing for the rest of the Kirkwood City Council candidates a 337-word letter before August 5th? Will they be doing that for each and every City Council candidate in all the other communities the Times serves during every election season? Or was this just a Times’ Kirkwood special?

The reason why I ask these questions is because when I read this past week’s edition, it clearly says in the upper-right hand corner of the page 6 Mailbag that letters need to be limited to 300 words. In fact, I have been denied printing of my letter submissions in the past by Times editors for being over their 300-word limit. In addition, I know other Kirkwood citizens who have been denied the printing of their letters because it was over the 300-word limit. Yet, Mr. Moore gets his nonsense printed in violation of their rules?

So, editors of the Times why two different double standards? Why the Tale of Two Newspapers?

Since there is a very prevalent bent from Mr. Bitikofer and Mr. Corrigan. Plus, they really do not seem to care about what our City Staff puts in the “Eye On Kirkwood.” Is their any good reason why our City tax dollars should be wasted with paying for any more ad space in their newspaper? It is clear with each edition that the Times has a hard time living up to being the self-proclaimed “Your Hometown Newspaper” in our community.

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