 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
May 12, 2005
|
|||||
|
|
|
|||
|
May 12, 2005 |
|||||
 |
|
EDITORIALS New chance for Glen Helen The resignation of Bob Whyte as the executive director of the Glen Helen Ecology Institute provides the Glen and Antioch College the opportunity to find a new leader who is better able to work with the community to strengthen the Glen and put it on better financial footing. Whoever takes over the Glen when Dr. Whyte leaves in September will have a significant challenge. The new director’s first task should be to restore the community’s confidence in the Ecology Institute by finding a better mechanism to allow public input in the Glen. While the community should not be charged with making everyday decisions on how to manage Glen Helen, the public should be given a voice on shaping the Glen’s mission and direction. Another key task will be to revise or start anew the Glen’s strategic planning process, which involved defining a vision for the future of the Glen. But as the News reported last week, the Glen put that planning process on hold. The chairman of the GHEI board, David Goodwin, said that “budgetary concerns are almost surely part of the delay.” Those budgetary concerns include a decline in the number of large donors and the Glen’s floundering campaign to start an endowment and raise funds to upgrade facilities. Running the Glen is not an easy job. You’ve got a limited budget and small staff. You’re in charge of a private institute that relies on the public’s financial support. You serve a community that loves the Glen but is hesitant to see things change in the nature preserve. What the Glen needs is a leader who can appreciate a community’s love for the nature preserve, and has the ability to enhance his or her vision for Glen Helen with input from the community. Correcting a mistake Last week the News published a letter to the editor titled “No longer a favorite place” and signed by Lynda Wilcoxx. We have discovered that the letter writer used a pseudonym, which is not permitted in the News’ guidelines for letters. On Tuesday, the writer acknowledged that her real name is Jo Werling and that she is from Mount Vernon, Iowa. Mrs. Werling stressed that she still stands behind the content of the letter. Though the News as a practice verifies letters, this process was not done for Mrs. Werling’s letter, which is why her letter carried a false name. The need to verify letters is the reason why the News requires everyone submitting a letter to the editor to provide a daytime phone number and address. The verification process, while never completely perfect, is one way the News can ensure the authenticity of a letter writer. The News has a policy of not publishing letters by writers using pseudonyms, anonymous letters and letters by writers who ask us to withhold his or her name. We promise to be more thorough and diligent in the future so that this type of incident does not happen again. We hope that over time we can regain the trust that we may have lost with some readers.
|
|
