The people have spoken…

Every week in the Comet a question is posed to readers. It is called the "Web poll question" and can be answered online only. There is an opportunity for the responder to make a short comment about the subject.

Last week's question was about the amount of coverage we give to the workings of the local county government and decisions made on taxpayers' behalf. And guess what? We hit a nerve. People not only responded, but they did it almost in unison. As of late Tuesday afternoon, 86 readers had weighed in and only four of those believe there is too much coverage of county government in the Comet.

Some of our readers had choice words for Carroll County elected officials and one responder really wanted to know what council member called the office to criticize us for reporting in depth what was going on.

"Censorship" means to examine in order to suppress or delete anything considered objectionable, according to Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary. The telephone call from the elected official was an attempt to censor the press.

The responses all appear elsewhere on this page. And they all encourage this newspaper to continue to cover our local government in detail.

The framers of the U.S. Constitution guaranteed a free press "that would take a stand for liberty and justice and that mission has not changed," USA Today Editor Ken Paulson told an audience at a forum sponsored by the Indiana Coalition of Open Government, Hoosier State Press Association and Indiana State Bar Association in November. Paulson's words ring true for what is happening in Carroll County.

Shame on any elected official who would want and strive to censor the press.