West Shore residents and businesses are engaged in their community and it shows – in pride of place, in community engagement and, yes, in the time you take to share your thoughts with us in the paper’s “Your View” section.
Today’s paper reveals the broad scope of topics of interest to readers – ongoing concerns about rock retaining walls, for example, the opening of an exciting new shopping centre in View Royal, the latest on high school sports and tips for people looking at downsizing their homes.
We appreciate the time readers take to share their thoughts with us and the greater community. Not everyone will agree all the time, but a respectful sharing of ideas is one of the core values of our society.
With all that in mind, we wanted to check in with readers about the guidelines we follow regarding letters to the editor.
Of paramount importance is that we can verify the letter writer, and we do this in various ways. It’s important, for example, that an e-mailed letter comes from a legitimate e-mail, so you’ll often receive a note in reply from us to confirm that you sent a letter, and that you intended it for publication.
We do not accept anonymous letters, so you must include your name.
We also ask that you include a phone number and address, so we can further verify that letter writers are who they say they are. These are not included for publication.
Priority is given to letters addressing stories which have run in the Goldstream News Gazette and to topics of direct interest to local readers, as well as to letters from West Shore residents.
Finally, letters are subject to editing – for issues of legality and taste as well as style, length and clarity. We strive to keep the intent as you wrote it, but while you may challenge – or applaud – what you read on these pages, you must do so within those guidelines which we also follow.
We look forward to hearing from you.