Those Doggone Comments...

Yep, you guessed it, we have to take the bite out of all the fur flying nameless comments...Like fleas, you get one bad one and they multiply into a nasty mess.

So if you find that you are just itching to comment, you have got to sign your name...not a paw print!

Comments are welcome, and kids, play nice...

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DC July 14, 2012, 12:11 pm I would hope that from here on out the comments will be based on facts especially from those quoted in the paper that should know better because they have access to all official reports of that day. I am truly sorry for the Power\'s family and hope we can honor Sadie in a way that can be befitting of a loyal and loving family member by putting into place a protocal for injured strays that is based on the resources at hand. Dr. Corbett\'s history with the shelter and his many years caring for this community\'s pets is commendable and those that have besmirched his name (or thrown him under the bus) should be ashamed.
City leaders, this was handled poorly. Please do your homework,try again, and bring this community back together.

KF July 15, 2012, 2:46 pm It is very disappointing that the anonymous hurtful comments were posted in the first place, just long enough to do the enormous amount of damage that it has, and then a day later your \"policy\" is enforced. As editors and reporters of this website, the commenting should have been turned off immediately once it started spiraling out of control. You have that responsibilty and now the damage has been done to so many more people than you may know. This situation was already emotionally charged, and you let the drama unfold for the sake of a \"good\" story. Shame on you....this took on the life resembling that of a story in the \"National Enquirer\",you let it happen, and fed into it without all of the facts. Either follow your policy, or get rid of it all together.

KF July 15, 2012, 2:51 pm Please post your policies regarding information submitted and commenting on a tab that is clearly defined to eliminate this in the future.

MS July 15, 2012, 9:44 pm Well Said Kim ... well said - furthermore allowing this to happen takes away from the legitimacy of this web site -

TS July 16, 2012, 11:06 am Thanks Dean and Valerie for making it the policy to have names submitted before people can comment on a story. If it wasn\'t the policy before, then it\'s good that this \"firestorm\" resulted in a change! As we all know policies have to be \"tweaked\" at times. I\'m sure there was nothing intentional or \"sensationlism\" thought about when making policies. You recognized the problem and found the solution. That\'s what everyone needs to do instead of beating each other up! We all need to remember that Shane\'s story is one HE submitted as a Letter to the Editor which is an OPINION of the person who wrote it and the paper is not obligated to check out the facts of this type of submission. Now, IF Vinton Today were reporting on a story then it is the media\'s responsibility to check out their facts before publishing any story. And in the event that the facts change or are found untrue after publishing a story then a retraction or correction is the correct media policy. Have you NEVER seen The Gazette or a TV news station publish a retraction or correction?? Of course we all have! This is our basic freedom known as the Bill of Rights and the First Amendment is The Freedom of Speech!

In this day and age of social media and society\'s need for \"immediate\" gratification online comments feed this kind of \"need\", unfortunately. The bad (or sad!) part is that it seems that when some people post online whether its on a news website, Facebook, Twitter, etc. they really don\'t have very good written communication skills or the restraint that is probably a good idea when writing for the public! (not to mention the grammatical errors!!) Facebook, Twitter and other Social Media website comments are not admissable in court (yet!) so anything posted on these sites are debateable as being creditable and/or punishable by law. It should be noted though that whatever is written and posted for all the world to see on these sites should be carefully thought out! (take a hint jr high/high school & college kids!)

Hopefully there will be at least two positive outcomes of this debate: 1. Vinton Today\'s comment submission policy changes (already done!) and 2. City of Vinton\'s policy of how to handle \"strays\" will change to include a hold policy and microchip checking.
The most important outcome of this should be (not that it will be!) that we are a small community of \"neighbors\" not just a person that lives next door! We all need to learn a lesson from this that we need to be community minded vs. the new society norm of it\'s \"all about me!\" Whether you agree with this or not that\'s your right... our country\'s founding fathers say so in the Bill of Rights! :) Thanks Dean & Valerie for having this online newspaper and providing the forum for discussion on topics, both positive & negative!

L(D July 16, 2012, 1:40 pm Thank you Dean for requiring names if someone wants to comment. As far as deleting comments when it \"spirals out of control\", well, wouldn\'t be a fan of that. Free speech and all that.

I am a reader from afar and have been following the story. I don\'t think limiting comments would have any difference in the outcome and it also would stop public speculation just because people couldn\'t comment on this FREE, practically non-profit, news source.

Dean, keep up the great work!!!

LD July 16, 2012, 1:48 pm And my apologies for not including your name, Valerie, in my previous comment. You play a big role in this news source, too!

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