If your only exposure to a newsroom has been through movies or television, the business of crafting a newspaper must seem exotic, fun, and hectic, an occupation pursued by people with perfect teeth and unmoving hair who look an awful lot like Robert Downey Jr. or Rachel McAdams.

Reality, of course, is different.

Fun? Yep. Hectic? For sure. But exotic? Well, no.

We ink-stained wretches are like everyone else these days: We work long hours, wear multiple hats and eat an awful lot of fast-food meals out of paper bags at our desks.
We deal in police blotters, county millage rates, civic club meetings and PTA spaghetti suppers. I've had a death threat or two but never solved a murder case. I have never even had a chance to yell "Stop the presses!"

What we do here is important, though, and it's all about you.

We're your community newspaper, your go-to source about what's going on in Newton County, what people are talking about.

We cover the big news, but we also offer photos of the homecoming court or FFA prize-winners, stories about church pumpkin patches and profiles of the husband-and-wife team who own a wrecker service. If it's going on in Newton County, you can find out about it here.

We don't want it to be a monologue, though: A community newspaper such as The Covington News is also all about opening dialogues.

We have our say and you can, too.

We're not a font of wisdom, imposing decrees or our views on others, but we offer editorials and columns with particular viewpoints.

We hope they are conversation starters. We want to get you talking at the breakfast table and around the coffee pot at work. We also play host to community conversations at our website, Covnews.com, through our Facebook page, and of course here in print.

Sometimes you might not like what we say.

On Wednesday, many of you took a definite disliking to Sports Editor Josh Briggs' column on deer hunting.

Josh questioned the need for deer hunting in the 21st century and the motives of hunters. You questioned his sanity.

See Page 3B for a sampling of comments.

One reader also took offense at the illustration that accompanied the column, a photo of the back of an SUV at a fast food restaurant window seen through a gun sight crosshairs.

Dave Larimer found it to be extremely offensive and beneath our standards.
Fair enough.

The intent was to give a visual representation of the column, offering a deer's eye view if a deer was a hunter. No people were visible in the image.

Two of our Page 1 news stories on Wednesday also ignited conversation threads.

An article by Gabe Khouli on Rep. Jim Marshall, a Democrat, running from any association with his party's chamber leader, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was the subject of a lively conversation from across the political spectrum.

Another article from Gabe, about local efforts to derail attempts to convert an unused railroad line into a hiking and biking trail also sparked a good conversation online.

And that's what we're all about. We want to hear from you, know what's on your mind. We want to let you vent and be heard. We're your newspaper, the place where you can have your say.

Call us at (770) 787-6397, or stop by our office at 1166 Usher St. N.W. You can call me at my direct line at (678) 750-5011, or send an e-mail at tgiddens@covnews.com.

In the next few weeks the newspaper editorial board is going to hit the road, visiting various communities to meet with folks. Details are coming soon.

Tharon Giddens is editor of The Covington News. Reach him at (678) 750-5011, or at tgiddens@covnews.com.