Our View: On good jams, good deeds and good reporting

Sometimes it’s OK to be in a jam. That is to say, it’s good that testing on jamming cellphone signals at state prison facilities appears to be working, and without causing problems for those not detained behind the walls and fences.

Smuggled cellphones have long plagued the prison system. Prisoners plus cellphones is not a good equation, but it’s one that needs solved. And so if some phones can continue to get smuggled in, a backup solution is jamming those phones and disabling prisoners’ ability to communicate with each other — and we’re not talking about sending each other friendly emojis and photos of what they ate — and beyond the prison walls for criminal purposes. Thumbs up for the successful tests and, we hope, eventual deployment of jamming fully across the state’s prison system.

What a beautiful gesture and outreach, certainly worthy of a thumbs up.

Reference here is made to Cynthia Christie, her sons Kamryn and Kamari and her sons’ Cub Scout Pack 96. In the wake of Hurricane Dorian’s devastating blow to the Bahamas, she and the Scouts gathered up supplies to be sent where they were most needed. Christie is married to a native Bahamian and made the Bahamas her home for 18 years before moving to Ninety Six a couple of years ago. The townspeople of Ninety Six also join in this thumbs up because they, obviously, were key participants in the effort to gather and disburse needed supplies to total strangers whose lives were in an upheaval.

We have heard from a number of readers who literally and figuratively gave us a thumbs up for our news reporting on the capital project sales tax issue and a person who labels himself a community activist. Sure, we heard from critics as well, but that is the nature of this business.

While some people would prefer we limit our reporting to only good news and features, we see our role as more than that. We’ve said it before and will say it again. Sticking to feel-good news and features would be the easier route to take, but it would be doing a disservice to the majority of readers who have higher expectations of their community newspaper.

And so we thank you for recognizing that and actually taking the time to offer your words of thanks.

Originally Published by Index-Journal on:Sep 27, 2019

Article Link: https://www.indexjournal.com/opinion/editorials/our-view-on-good-jams-good-deeds-and-good-reporting/article_21214d6a-e7da-55a5-9d58-f2a1233f6911.html