From the Newsroom -- Tony Dodero

For the last 10 years, I have held a little-known spot in Daily Pilot

lore that until recently I was fairly sure would always be mine to claim.

You see in late June 1991, as the paper’s much younger, thinner,

goateed weekend reporter, I filed the very last front page news story for

what was then our Sunday edition.

The story was so inconsequential I don’t even remember what it was.

But I do remember that it was a sad time in this newspaper’s history.

The paper at that time endured the full furnace blast of the early

1990s recession that toppled the local real estate market and rocked

several of the community’s financial institutions.

Bad economic news left consumers closing up their wallets faster than

Aaron Peirsol’s 200-meter backstroke.

The paper went to three days a week, earning the affectionate nickname

the “every-other Daily Pilot” by the staff.

Most of us were pretty sure the end was near for this fine daily

newspaper.

That wasn’t to be.

The Daily Pilot, under the guidance of former editor Bill Lobdell and

then and still publisher Tom Johnson, rebounded and went back to six

days. It is thriving quite nicely today and for nine-plus years stayed

six days until this week.

Now we are back to a seven-day-a-week operation, and I couldn’t be

happier. Even if I did lose my place in the paper’s history books.

*

Readers are always quick to point out grammatical mistakes and typos

to us, and most times, except when the message is a nasty one, we

appreciate the help. I can assure the readers that however tiring it is

to see the mistakes, it is always extra painful for us to see errors in

print.

We never take these errors lightly. Still, I couldn’t help but notice

the humor in a couple errors readers noticed last week.

One reader pointed out we used the word “grizzly” when we should have

said “grisly” and other noted we used the word “bear” when we should have

said “bare.”

Those are the type of things that will send the best editor into

immediate hibernation *

One of the biggest criticisms we receive here in the newsroom is that

we let letter writers from South County express their views in our paper

when it comes to the El Toro airport debate.

Our critics have been right and wrong in their complaints.

They are wrong to believe that just because the Daily Pilot is a

Newport Beach and Costa Mesa newspaper that we should ignore or not

publish other viewpoints.

That is censorship any way you slice it.

To maintain fairness, we must accurately portray both sides of an

argument, even if one side is contrary to the opinion of a majority of

our readers. Besides, we know our readers are intelligent enough to

listen to both sides and come to rational conclusions.

But our critics are very right about one thing.

As they’ve pointed out, we’ve sometimes let our guard down and let

ourselves be the victim of write-in campaigns by the South County forces

eager to jam their viewpoints down our throats.

For example, last week we asked our readers to tell us what it would

take to end the debate on El Toro.

Our e-mailbox was bombarded, logging about 30 messages from several

folks south of the Irvine Spectrum line, all saying about the same thing.

We didn’t and won’t run most of the letters, and we vow to be more

diligent about such one-sided cyber attacks in the future.

*

So I hope you liked our Sunday edition, and please drop me a line with

your comments or concerns.

I will be a little tough to reach in the coming weeks as my wife,

Elizabeth, just gave birth to our second child.

For anyone who cares, mom and the baby, Kristen Elyse, are resting

comfortably at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Orange where they are getting the

best of care.

And in a fun note, my baby is sharing the same birthday, Groundhog

Day, Feb. 2, with the new son of longtime Pilot sports writer Rich Dunn.

Rich’s boy, Richard Nolan Dunn, entered the world over at Hoag

Memorial. The little one and mom, Andrea, are doing just fine also.

*

* TONY DODERO is the editor. His column appears on Mondays. If you

have concerns about news coverage or story ideas please send messages

either via e-mail too7 [email protected] or by phone at

949-574-4258.