This entry was for last year's chowderfest. For the 2009 Chowderfest - click here
OK, yet another reminder: The early registration for the Saratoga Dance Flurry is tomorrow, January 28th. You can find all you need to know about it, including appropriate links, from my January 9th entry. If you already know what you need to know, and you just need the ticket information, then click here. Getting it in the mail with a January 28th post mark will suffice for the early entry fee.
Another deadline upcoming this week is the one for the Bartender's Ball, which will be held February 2nd at the Saratoga City Center - with proceeds benefiting Universal Preservation Hall. I am bummed because I will be out of town and have to miss it - as well as the Winterfest and Chowderfest. For tickets to the ball Call the Chamber of Commerce at 584-3255 or email Linda Page at [email protected] - you must do this by Wednesday - they will not sell tickets at the door.
The Sunday Saratogian had a good editorial promoting the Bartender's Ball, of which they are admirably a sponsor of. I have criticized The Saratogian in the past on editorials because I expect most of my hometown newspapers' editorials to be - well - written by the hometown newspaper editorial staff. I hate seeing excessive editorials from other sources, which The Saratogian has been guilty of. The paper has improved on this issue from what I have previously termed a "lazy" approach. They still have a ways to go on the editorial front and a LONG way to go on the rest of the paper, but I have seen at least some improvement from their previously dismal efforts. I do believe that the local blog scene has had something to do with the limited improvement - with special credit to I-Saratoga and the (Dis)utopia blog. I often disagree with what they say, especially regarding some local officials and entities, but they are both usually right-on with regards to our local daily.
Today's (Sunday) edition had what I believe was a good article analyzing the issues surrounding the fact that the murder trial of Roger K. Aletras could be a federal death penalty case. I don't know if this specific angle on (as the headline said) the unusual and the controversial aspects of the federal death penalty (as it relates to states rights), and how it affects this case, has been covered by any other local journalists but I haven't seen it elsewhere. Therefore I give the writer Jim Kinney a qualified thumbs up for some decent reporting.
I want to write a little further regarding the flaws and problems of our hometown newspaper and their debacle of a web site. Both the print and online editions are still kind of sloppy and give me an absentee landlord - or in this case absentee editor - feel. I've commented often on the poor quality of the reporting and the fact that I'm seeing too many Troy Record reprints. The "Local" Section of the print edition is just a picture page followed by national and world news - there is never local news in the Local section - it's always in the front section. Hey that's fine if that's their choice - it's not the New York Times and we don't want it to be - but then attend to the basics and label the sections properly. While they're at it, the "Today at a Glance" section is really the "Week at a Glance" - well, so label it. Can or will they, meaning the Journal Register Company, fix the web site and get it to load in less time than it takes me to walk the dog? And like I said about attending to the basics - The Saratogian needs to attend to the web site - especially the blog page - they are not "Full stories" or "headlines", but blogs and entries or posts. Finally, I shouldn't have to click multiple times to get to the blogs - the middle pages with additional required links to the blogs are wasteful and time consuming.
I don't think that I am expecting too much from The Saratogian. I, like many others, just want some effort on editorials, professionally written and accurate stories, a web site that loads as quick as it should, and properly labeling the print edition as well as the web site. I have seen some effort and minor improvement, so I am mildly encouraged. Today's edition was a plus in my book, and hopefully they can put many plusses together and give us a hometown newspaper we can enjoy and be proud of. Just my thoughts - I'd love to hear your thoughts so please feel free to comment. Enjoy the relatively warm weather in the next few days.
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