# Letters to the Editor



## Kav (Jun 19, 2005)

I've been getting the local paper again, courtesy of my nieghbor for the job ads. 
I've been hearing many reports, usually on electronic media of the printed news emminent demise, as dead as VHS video. 
So, it was almost nostalgic to see obituaries, sports pages devoted to the local quarterback hero and, opinions.
I was amazed, in theis age of forums, blogs and chatrooms to see people still writing in, though I think they must be like the british dispatch rider who showed up after the Battle of New Orleons bringing news of the peace treaty.
One lady has 'uncontestable proof' Obama's birth certificate
is a forgery, while Prop 8 continues to vie with Global Warmingand "haw haw' look at the snow on our nearby mountains."
Writing to a local paper always seemed a bad idea. the idea of getting in a pissing match with somebody who could locate my residence or job never seemed very discrete. And I certainly don't want old girlfriends or potential employers becoming conscious of my name.
Still, long after the painfully slow Prince Valiant cartoon ( neanderthals fleeing a giant crab and meeting golden haired Aleta on the mediteranean style sailing ship) I kept looking again at this STUPID letter.
So, I wrote a letter to the editor, which really isn't to him ( or her) but this idiot . And, biggest insult, I only had 300 words to rebuke his facetious arguments. 
I must be over 300 here, so I will stop.
Oh, there are a sum total of 5 job ads in this, the Sunday paper.


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## StevenRocks (May 24, 2005)

I still subscribe to my regional newspaper. It hasn't changed much over the years, other than gaining a website.


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## jackmccullough (May 10, 2006)

I've always subscribed to a local newspaper, except for a couple of years when I lived in the dorm in college. It's harder to keep it up, given that it takes me about ten minutes to get through the whole paper and I learn very little that I don't learn online, through NPR, or in other ways.

I do occasionally write a letter to the editor. The last one I sent in was a blog post that the paper ran as an Op-Ed piece. My blog post was seen, and presumably read, by hundreds of people, but as an Op-Ed piece it was seen by tens of thousands. I think the additional exposure is worthwhile.


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## In Mufti (Jan 28, 2005)

The problem with writing letters to the paper is that fine print at the bottom of the letters section where they warn you that they reserve the right to edit letters for publication.

I quit writing letters to the editor after the paper decided to creatively edit one of my letters to make it more controversial--probably in hopes of generating more heated letters. I was not amused.


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## Howard (Dec 7, 2004)

StevenRocks said:


> I still subscribe to my regional newspaper. It hasn't changed much over the years, other than gaining a website.


do you get yours delivered Steve?


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## StevenRocks (May 24, 2005)

Howard said:


> do you get yours delivered Steve?


Yeah, it comes free with the subscription.


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## jackmccullough (May 10, 2006)

In Mufti said:


> The problem with writing letters to the paper is that fine print at the bottom of the letters section where they warn you that they reserve the right to edit letters for publication.
> 
> I quit writing letters to the editor after the paper decided to creatively edit one of my letters to make it more controversial--probably in hopes of generating more heated letters. I was not amused.


Interesting. I've never had that happen. I have had them call me and ask me to either shorten it or something like that, but adding words to make it more vituperative goes beyond editing if you ask me.


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## Miket61 (Mar 1, 2008)

I once had a quote published in the _New York Times_ as a sidebar.

Macy's wanted to get 34th Street alongside their store renamed "Rowland Macy Way" and I wrote to point out that they'd taken the names off so many great department stores, they needn't be adding theirs anywhere else it wasn't wanted.


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## Canadian (Jan 17, 2008)

My dad and grandfather owned three papers. So yes, I subscribe. I very rarely read the local rag, not after the hatchet job they did on me nine years ago. They printed what was in fact a rumour and it cost me thousands in legal wranglers to get it straightened out. Suffice it to say, we did not own that particular paper, having gotten out of the paper business about 12 years ago. 

Thomas


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## Beresford (Mar 30, 2006)

Years ago I used to submit letters regularly to the paper under a "nom de plume." A crotchety old guy with pointed, politically incorrect opinions. He lasted for a couple of years before the paper figured out he didn't exist and the editor had him executed by firing squad behind the printing press.


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## Howard (Dec 7, 2004)

StevenRocks said:


> Yeah, it comes free with the subscription.


mine is The Daily News,what's yours?


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## StevenRocks (May 24, 2005)

Howard said:


> mine is The Daily News,what's yours?


_The Roanoke Times_.


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## StevenRocks (May 24, 2005)

Miket61 said:


> I once had a quote published in the _New York Times_ as a sidebar.
> 
> Macy's wanted to get 34th Street alongside their store renamed "Rowland Macy Way" and I wrote to point out that they'd taken the names off so many great department stores, they needn't be adding theirs anywhere else it wasn't wanted.


Hear! Hear!:aportnoy:


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## jackmccullough (May 10, 2006)

One of my father's accomplishments was that he had a letter to the editor published in the Times. He was the first to suggest that they should collect tolls only going in one direction on the Hudson River crossings, and double the tolls, thereby saving the labor and other costs associated with collecting tolls in both directions. They rejected the idea out of hand, but eventually sent him, and the other people who suggested it, letters acknowledging their contributions.


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## Gurdon (Feb 7, 2005)

*The old Christian Science Monitor*

Several, if not many, years ago the Monitor published a letter I wrote about changes in tax policy that made it uneconomical for publishers to maintain an inventory of slow-moving titles.

The Monitor subsequently dumbed itself down and I cancelled my subscription and stopped reading it.

Regards,
Gurdon


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## Howard (Dec 7, 2004)

StevenRocks said:


> _The Roanoke Times_.


You've got a very nice website,cool layout.


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## Miket61 (Mar 1, 2008)

StevenRocks said:


> Hear! Hear!:aportnoy:


I still remember the first time I went to Valley View Mall - Thalhimer's, Miller & Rhodes, Hecht's, and Leggett. I think there was a Sears at the far end, or maybe a Penney's. Technically, I suppose, Leggett has always been Belk, but the rest are all long gone.


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## StevenRocks (May 24, 2005)

Miket61 said:


> I still remember the first time I went to Valley View Mall - Thalhimer's, Miller & Rhodes, Hecht's, and Leggett. I think there was a Sears at the far end, or maybe a Penney's. Technically, I suppose, Leggett has always been Belk, but the rest are all long gone.


Yes, Valley View is my local regional mall, and I can remember clearly going there right after it opened in 1985. The anchor lineup didn't include Hecht's until 1992. The original anchors were Thalhimers, Miller & Rhoads, JCPenney, Leggett and Sears. Hecht's replaced Thalhimers. Miller & Rhoads was replaced by Montgomery Ward in 1990, then with Hecht's Home & Children's in 2002, which is now Macy's Home & Children's.

Belk and Leggett were always related, but Leggett was never as upscale as Belk's best stores. My mom worked at the (better, at least back then) Tanglewood Mall Leggett across town for years, leaving just as they transitioned to Belk. The Valley View store was a little outclassed by M&R and Thalhimers but caught up by the time Belk took over, because Hecht's used the Roanoke store as a de-facto clearance center for the Northern Virginia stores for several years.

Here's a look back at Valley View's early years.
https://livemalls.blogspot.com/2005/07/happy-20th-anniversary-valley-view.html


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## StevenRocks (May 24, 2005)

Howard said:


> You've got a very nice website,cool layout.


I used to write for this paper a few years ago.https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=+site:www.highbeam.com+retail+therapy+steven+swain


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## StevenRocks (May 24, 2005)

Mods: please edit Post #18. I forgot about the blog linking policy momentarily. Sorry.


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## Howard (Dec 7, 2004)

StevenRocks said:


> I used to write for this paper a few years ago.https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=+site:www.highbeam.com+retail+therapy+steven+swain


Were you an editor?


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## Miket61 (Mar 1, 2008)

StevenRocks said:


> Mods: please edit Post #18. I forgot about the blog linking policy momentarily. Sorry.


Fortunately, I bookmarked it before they did. 

Nice article, nice pictures. I remember a cigar shop on the second floor that had ample supplies of La Gloria Cubanas long after the rest of the civilized world had caught on to their incredible price-to-quality ratio.


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## StevenRocks (May 24, 2005)

Howard said:


> Were you an editor?


No. A columnist. My column was called "Retail Therapy."



Miket61 said:


> Fortunately, I bookmarked it before they did.
> 
> Nice article, nice pictures. I remember a cigar shop on the second floor that had ample supplies of La Gloria Cubanas long after the rest of the civilized world had caught on to their incredible price-to-quality ratio.


That store was Tinder Box, once a regional chain, now a company with maybe two or three stores. Unfortunately, it's long gone.


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## Howard (Dec 7, 2004)

> No. A columnist. My column was called "Retail Therapy."


It must've been a good job?


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## Kav (Jun 19, 2005)

I remember tinderbox. They bought out my pipe shoppe and were themselves soon gone.
I still want revenge on this tobacco Kiosk in another Valley Mall.
A friend was looking for a brand from his home in Jordan. I asked, and was sold egyptian Ynidji's.
I fell asleep that night with the unopened pack on my nightstand, waking @ 2 A.M. deathly ill just from the smell.


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## StevenRocks (May 24, 2005)

Howard said:


> It must've been a good job?


It was okay. I was a contract employee, so I didn't get the perks of being a full timer, but I basically could write about anything retail-related I liked. All in all,. it was a good experience.


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## Miket61 (Mar 1, 2008)

StevenRocks said:


> No. A columnist. My column was called "Retail Therapy."
> 
> That store was Tinder Box, once a regional chain, now a company with maybe two or three stores. Unfortunately, it's long gone.


The Tinder Box at Lenox Square Mall was there for decades; not it's a combination wine/cigar shop called Vino 100, which I think is franchised by the same people who owned Tinder Box.

It's interesting having a wine shop in the mall; years ago there was a grocery, a drug store, a movie theater, even a Remington store that sharpened blades. The last two decades convinced retailers that the secret to success is to be completely devoid of anything that customers actually _need_.

Macy's, which was Davison's and was in the space that's now Bloomingdale's, had a gourmet food department with a wine shop in the late eighties. I remember getting my college roommate a bottle of champagne as a wedding gift. They used to have great sales staff, but this one was a bit off, fortunately - I was only eighteen and she sold me a bottle of Perrier Jouet Fleur de Fleur in a gift box with two champagne flutes for $19.


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## Howard (Dec 7, 2004)

StevenRocks said:


> It was okay. I was a contract employee, so I didn't get the perks of being a full timer, but I basically could write about anything retail-related I liked. All in all,. it was a good experience.


So I guess what you wrote about is about the retail business?


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## StevenRocks (May 24, 2005)

Miket61 said:


> The Tinder Box at Lenox Square Mall was there for decades; not it's a combination wine/cigar shop called Vino 100, which I think is franchised by the same people who owned Tinder Box.
> 
> It's interesting having a wine shop in the mall; years ago there was a grocery, a drug store, a movie theater, even a Remington store that sharpened blades. The last two decades convinced retailers that the secret to success is to be completely devoid of anything that customers actually _need_.
> 
> Macy's, which was Davison's and was in the space that's now Bloomingdale's, had a gourmet food department with a wine shop in the late eighties. I remember getting my college roommate a bottle of champagne as a wedding gift. They used to have great sales staff, but this one was a bit off, fortunately - I was only eighteen and she sold me a bottle of Perrier Jouet Fleur de Fleur in a gift box with two champagne flutes for $19.


I would have loved to have seen Lenox in it's utilitarian phase. I hear the current mall is nice, but it's very focused on a high end fashion shopper, without a lot of income or merchandise category diversity.

Regarding Macy's and a lot of great old department stores that had quirky departments, I think not being able to retain talented and interested sales associates did some of those old department store attractions and specialty stores in, along with Wall Street and MBAs trying to turn the magic of classic retail into statistics and formulas. The greatest retailers still made money, to be sure, but they succeeded in being profitable without taking all the fashion leadership, beauty and elegance out of the experience.

Belk at SouthPark mall in Charlotte still has a wine shop run by the Balsey brothers. Arthur's is regionally known as a great place to buy wine, but it's a private-owned concession with space leased from Belk. previously, there was really innovative food hall in the Arthur's space, but it was probably about a decade ahead of its time, and it faded away after a few years.

Incidentailly, not far from Belk SouthPark, in a basement space in the parking garage is the remaining Tinder Box store, complete with cigar lounge and state of the art humidor.



Howard said:


> So I guess what you wrote about is about the retail business?


It was more form a shopper's perspective than a straight retail business column, but it touched on new stores in town, gift ideas and product reviews. I learned about how to buy diamonds, tested the Nike Air max 360 running shoes, shared shopping tips, you name it. it was a fun column to write.


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