Our long-serving editor of the Rappahannock News is back (that’s old news now).  What’s fresh is
Roger Piantadosi’s debut signed editorial, “Aiming at the truth vs each other.”
 Anyways, of course, everyone is entitled to his or her opinion.  But I’m here to say that nobody is entitled to the opinion — born of either ignorance of the facts, or Reading Between the Lines Gone Wild, or plain old misdirected rage — that questions whether this newspaper routinely aims to get at the truth every Thursday.
Roger uses the editorial to make a case for vetted, reported news (versus “the opinions of a few”), a reference to the frequent contributors to the community listserv RappNet. He explains the role of the weekly paper, “aiming to get at the truth every Thursday.” He describes how the challenges a small weekly faces helped lead to the formation of Foothills Forum — a community-supported effort to research and report on Rappahannock matters. He describes how “a few frequent tunnelers on RappNet” fall back in default mode to attack the credibility of the newspaper, and by association, Foothills, via doubt, slander and misrepresentation. He laments the rise of an “us” versus “them” narrative and decries how it serves as a destructive barrier to “anyone who hopes to bring about some understanding of the extent, history and everyday signs” of our wonderfully complicated county. That’s been, and will be, our role at Foothills, starting with giving the county — every house — a chance to share their satisfaction with services and concerns for the future via the Foothills Forum Survey.  With 1,362 households responding, we have a baseline of what truly concerns us. It’s refreshing to see a voice of reason state facts and stick to the truth.
An engaged community that seeks a broader understanding of its core concerns is how Foothills Forum came to be.  Our newly forged agreement with the weekly newspaper brings coverage of the events and issues that are shaping the future of Rappahannock.  As a community, we’re enriched by the presence of a local paper and its rational voice.
Welcome back, Roger!
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(Give your eyes a break from the computer and pick up this week’s print edition, though the signed editorial is available online to eEDITION subscribers.)
www.rappnews.com