Is the Ortonville Independent, independent?

As the Ortonville Independent prints a gossip column it misses real issues because of its alignment with the Mayor. For instance, the mayor supports cutting police protection back and then supports giving more money to the golf course. What's more important the safety of the citizenship or golfing?

As two major issues talked about in most newspapers across the state effected Ortonville, the Ortonville Independent was almost silent. This issue of the budget and cutbacks has barely been reported and more at a county level than city. The big news is the Artie Arndt and the Oaks attempts to once again cut back law enforcement.

The state of the judiciary has been a big news item with significant interest. The economic impact is significant. A few years ago we had a full time court administrator and currently shared with Traverse County. The word today is we have lost the court administrator who will not be replaced.

ARE WE MOVING TOWARDS REGIONALIZATION IN GOVERNMENT?

The answer is obviously yes. If the local press is not pro-active the closest newspaper you may be buying is the Watertown Public Opinion? Frankly this is a great newspaper. This newspaper does more than print the news, it attempts to influence.

The real problem with the Ortonville Independent is that there are few stories that are not written by the participants. How many articles are actually written by the press?

It is starting to appear that the city is writing most of the stories written in the Independent. The mayor, the clerk and others have way too much influence. It is almost as if the Independent is owned by the city.

Maybe that's what is meant when the city declares the "official newspaper", owned and operated by the City of Ortonville. Why not the city owns almost all of the other businesses?

If your sick of all of this, why dont you just move, I am sure no one would miss you complaining on non stop on issues you cannot control.

Because this is my home town as much as it is theirs. I have strong support and a vibrant business. I have watched this community for years do exactly what you suggest. If they don't agree let's run them out of town. Let's bully them!

My goal is to make Ortonville a better place to live with fresh and new ideas. Creation of jobs, moving towards acceptance of all people instead of people who bully others into moving.

This is a great community that does not get along with Big Stone City, Milbank or other communities.

I believe in a new vision of rural communities blending together to make this an even better area to reside.

Thanks for the opportunity to share. I am concerned that the lack of protecting the jobs, we have will cause further degeneration of the community I love.

I truly love this area. I will just remind you in Milbank they are attempting to preserve jobs, not build empty houses.

By the way, over the years I have watched surrounding communities reach out to O'ville. Almost always returned with a bruise. This community is the place to start making the changes.

By the way, the way you just suggested that I move, this is the way a handful of city leaders are treating the city employees. Just move. We don't care! We do not need you!

For 28 years I have served the victims of this treatment who have become my friends and in much greater numbers you will ever know have supported me because I have helped them.

By making Ortonville more open, honest and more caring we can then move to the second step which is bonding together to help increase population with efforts from my friends in Milbank, Big Stone City, Odessa, Clinton and the surrounding communities.

There are so many things I like about Ortonville, I know very little about the political situation, but i am going to add to Mouthpiece's post by listing what I see as Ortonville's strong points, the ones to build on.
The fine arts community is great, i went to a few meetings and was warmly welcomed and made to feel that i had something to contribute. They did not seem to care that i am a nobody, socially speaking, just being interested was enough! Years ago Milbank had a fine arts board, i do not know if it exists anymore, i think they do as far as sponsoring the Missoula Children's Theatre and such, but there are no open meetings, it is more for those who have the means to be patrons of the arts. It does seem as if Ortonville values their creative people more than other areas.
I love the mural and it was so cool to watch it be created.
Secondly; they have a long time thriving health food co-op. It is so nice to have a place to pick up good spices and other things, there are also connections with people who provide good food for the area, especially meat. I have even occasionally ordered things for the theatre. Sure wish i could use organic popcorn, but i need to keep my costs down.
Charming little shops are on Main Street.
I love my town of Twin Brooks and my business town Milbank and as Mouthpiece says; let's all learn to work together to regenerate the border area.

Ortonville has a great community ed program too.

WOW!! The Ortonville Independent must be publishing 2 versions of its paper—the one I read and the one someone else is reading.



Is the Ortonville Independent perfect. No. However, given that perfection is in the eye of the beholder, be careful what you wish for. In my opinion the Independent does many things well, including providing coverage of the current financial situation as it pertains to Ortonville. A newspaper does not need to be preachy to be informative and supportive. If there is a column one does not like, don’t read it! If there is a column missing, write it. If one actually does not know what “official city newspaper” means do some research. Whether one does or does not know, sarcasm is demeaning. Comparing local newspapers has merits, Comparing a local newspaper like the Independent to the Watertown Opinion is like comparing apples and coconuts—not a logical process.



I appreciate the postings about Ortonville’s positives. I will add the educational system, the medical services, the parks, and the volunteers that provide services often unrecognized. Is any of it perfect? Depends on the eye that is beholding!

As I have indicated I believe and have taken this area as my home community. There is much to offer in both of these communities. I have pointed out a number of actions taken by the publisher of the paper and the community that demonstrates and inability to get along.

I have and will continue to point in a new direction. In doing this we must identify the enemy. The enemy is a loss of population in both counties. Loss of population and loss of jobs are tied together and Grant County has been better at identifying that problem.

Of all people I know what is meant by an official publication. The problem that is identified is that the city and now the county are the one of the largest advertisers to the paper; therefore, the newspaper has an interest in not criticizing the hand that feeds them. Maybe the reason I know this is because of my good relationship to the past publisher. Frankly, James Kaercher was not afraid to criticize bad government and often times did.

When people say, "I want to read marshmallow and only the good news, you may be precluding a solution to the real problems. John Kennedy and our founding forefathers understood this concept. Leaders have vision of a better Ortonville. Leaders are not afraid of expressing a different point of view.

My friends tell me when I am making a mistake and that I respect. I also respect people who write and oppose my views. In expressing these views we move this area into a better and more open society. Ortonville especially needs to be more open-minded.

Two analogies come to mind.
One; anyone who knows anyone who has a problem w/substance abuse and is recovering, ask them who their real friends are; the ones who told them everything was okay, or the ones who held them accountable.
Two; if someone has an infection and the wound is not completely cleaned they will get even sicker, they could even die. If the wound is cleaned it will sting, but it will heal.
A community is the same.
Most media, especially small town media sees their job more as community booster than investigative reporter, for better or for worse.
There are times I find this frustrating too.

Once again, this media was ahead of the news. We were complaining months ago that the newspapers close financial ties and political ties to the current regime preclude it from being and printing objective news.

Fox News this morning reported that national newspapers are requesting to be part of the stimulus package.

Fox News analysis reported and concluded that this close tie to the federal government will make the printed press become government owned and only report the news that the government wants to report. Sound familiar?

This is already happening in small communities and it is a direct invasion of the First Amendment.

The Fox News answer was, "The New Media" of the internet will report news faster and more accurately. Gratis04's comments about reliability are probably a minority position.

Bottom line is, "official newspaper" probably means bought and paid for by your local government.