All The News That's Fit To Print Without Editing

I had some extra time today, so I was looking over the online version of my local paper, the Daily Democrat (est. 1857). Known as the Daily Disappointment by some of my friends, it is everything you expect of a small paper these days -- often poorly written, usually poorly edited, and occasionally unintentionally hilarious.

(For family news I just rely on the bush telegraph whose name is Jeff -- his grammar is just as bad, and there is no editing, but he tells everyone about everything whether you want him to or not, so I don't need another source.)

Most of the content in the Daily Democrat these days is not local, which I think is a shame. After all, if I wanted to read non-local news, I wouldn't get it from a four-page thick paper that shows up in the late afternoon. No, the best stories are the ones that are about local events, whether that's the edge-of-hysteria piece about the police arresting a wanted felon (who tried to flee on his bicycle), or the annual article about how wild turkeys were seen running down the road in town (which is usually titled something like "Turkeys Trot Through Town"). If you can get past the "why would anyone think this is news?" reaction, it's a good read. It also helps if you aren't a stickler for proper grammar or spelling.

Anyhow, today I made it to the obituaries. I don't really understand why I ever read them since I don't know these people, but read them I do. Unlike those found in the papers from more populated areas, the obituaries in the Daily Democrat usually have a fair amount of personal information. Sometimes they even make me wish I'd met the person, which I suppose is something. My favorite from today is for a guy named Wayne Henry King who was a ranch manager. It sounds like he did quite a lot of stuff in his 53 years, and it also sounds like he helped quite a few people along the way. But what really made the obituary great was this line buried in the middle of the second paragraph:

"He loved his family and friends, and his cat Munchkin Princess."


So, okay, sure, he had questionable taste in cat names, but still, the fact that this tough ranch manager loved his cat enough that his family felt it necessary to mention her by name in his obituary makes me think that the world is a worse place without him.