I have been hearing a lot of comments lately about what is in the Faribault County Register. Well, truthfully, I always hear from folks about what is in the Register, but it just seems like lately there have been more comments.

Now, that is not necessarily a bad thing. For one, it means folks are reading the Register, and I always like to hear that – even if it means they are making a critical comment. At least they are reading the paper every week.

After all, that is why we do what we do.

I think I have mentioned before that there are two special file folders in my desk drawer. One is labeled “Fan mail – good” and the other one is “Fan mail – bad.” In them I have kept some notes and letters from readers who love what we produce each week, and the other one is from folks who, well, don’t love what we do each week. The “Good” file is a little larger than the “Bad” file. But it is the “Bad” file I sometimes look at just so that I don’t get a big head and think we are perfect.

It keeps me grounded and reminds me that not everyone loves what we do.

Lately, of course, many comments I am receiving are about stories of county board, school board and city council meeting coverage. Most of the comments are about things those governmental bodies are doing. Some of the comments are about how we are covering what these local boards are doing.

I usually try to point out that one of the main focuses of newspapers since way back in Ben Franklin’s day has always been to inform their readers of what their elected officials are doing. Larger newspapers concentrate on state and federal governments, smaller papers on local councils and boards.

You can also tell there is interest in what these bodies are doing and our coverage of them, by the number of letters to the editor lately.

People have asked me a few questions about these letters as well. Here are some answers. No, we do not “have to” print every letter we receive, and we don’t. They have to pertain to something our readers would be interested in; they can’t be libelous or have unfounded accusations and they can’t be on a topic that should be an advertisement. There are some more guidelines as well, such as locally originated and not something that is sent to many newspapers nationwide.

We also have special rules for political endorsement letters.

Do we have to agree with every letter to the editor we receive in order to print it? No, we do not. Do we edit letters for language, grammar, spelling, etc.? Yes, we do.

Here are a few more comments and questions about the Register, and what is in it, which we have received lately.

• Are you going to run the story about the new teachers in the local schools? Yes, we are, they are in this week’s Register. Once again, there are quite a few new teachers in our schools.

• Are you going to run the fall sports team stories? Yes, on that one, also. They are included inside this issue. You will note we once again did not run the season schedules. Most folks go to the school’s website for up-to-date information on when and where their favorite team is playing.

• Who decides what goes on the front page, or what stories get covered? Well, that would be me, one of the many duties of an editor. Not everyone agrees with my choices, and the truth is, it is a very arbitrary decision and depends on the importance of the story, quality of photos, etc. Some weeks it is an easy decision, some weeks not at all easy.

• Why are some photos in color and some are in black and white? Well, color pages are used mainly to put color ads on them. We do try and take advantage of the color pages to put colorful photos on those, but it does not always work out that way. Some weeks we even have our editorial cartoons in color.

• Speaking of editorial cartoons, this week’s cartoon takes a second or third look to figure out what is going on. The point is, the boy did not do anything all summer except look at his phone. Thus, the no tan on his chest where he held the phone all summer. And speaking of phones, it looks like kids will be back to not having phones in classrooms this school year.

And there you have it. A little guide to the Faribault County Register. At least a partial one, anyway.

Once again, we do welcome your comments, “Good” or “Bad.” And, once again, we thank you for reading the Register each and every week. We will try and bring you all the news of the area and give you interesting stories to read each week.

Because, that is what we do.