A few years back some businessmen talked to the Telegram about this same issue. There was a welcomed change. Lord knows we don’t want things hidden from us. In no way is this a suggestion that the newspaper be allowed to edit out the facts or limit the news according to their political persuasion. Rocky Mount has crime. Repositioning the crime news off the front page is not a lot to ask for. This request is not to deny, or to say crime isn’t so.
Citizen, Mumtaz Shaik, held up two print editions of the Telegram while speaking Monday at the City Council meeting. She called for a cleanup of the “crime-soaked front page of the Rocky Mount Telegram to restore dignity and respectability to the city.” She added, “Ladies and gentlemen, Rocky Mount is not on the 10 most dangerous cities to live in in North Carolina nor in the United States. So why crowd the front page with crime?”
We all agree with her that a ‘crime soaked front page’ is not supportive of the revitalization efforts going on in Rocky Mount. Of course, the preservation, restoration and repurposing of the commercial architecture on Main Street and beyond, is my bailiwick. Thus this blog and a podcast that is on hiatus. Click on: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/stepheny-houghtlin (Talking Main Street With Stepheny) Wonderful things are happening in these areas and crime on the front page is counter-productive. Beyond these quotes I’ve used, I cannot go with Shaik’s conclusions like the following –
“It’s aimed at gaining your approval, your consent for the expansion of law enforcement to further unleash controlled repression and violence on the poor, who have limited to no financial resources to counter the assault on their life, liberty and pursuit of happiness,” Shaik said. “This is utterly criminal.”
REPOSITIONING is my story, all the day long. That’s all it will take to have the issue solved.
PS: T.J. Walker referred to Twin County Media, which is a features-oriented website and has an accompanying Facebook page. Twin County Media states its mission is to highlight the positive news and events occurring in Nash and Edgecombe counties. Don’t you love the word positiv
Main Street Rocky Mount 