In the last couple of weeks we have had two of our local restaurants recieve poor health scores from state officials.

Immediately through Facebook and other social media outlets both restaurants reputations were dragged through the mud without any thought of ramifications or being given the benefit of the doubt.

The saddest part about this seems to be that the bad words and devastating thoughts being passed on are created by folks who probably haven’t dined at either restaurant.

The reason we have health inspections is because we need to be protected from restaurants that continually operate under truly unhealthy conditions.

However, the one thing we would like to pass on is that some of this scoring is not related to strictly the unsanitary conditions possible around handling food. Health inspectors look for things such as temperature logs, correct labeling of food and storage items and necessary uniform items of employees, along with spoiled food and generally unhealthy procedures.
A few years ago we had some serious problems with over-aggressive reporting by health inspectors.

The point in case in the most recent situations is that both local restaurants received an extremely low score, and in both cases took the necessary action to insure that the score on the retest was up where it should be.

Both of these restaurants contribute to our local economy and provide a lively hood for many employees. Of course we should look out for the health of our own families, but also remember the wellfare of the people supported by these local businesses.

Mistakes happen and those mistakes, especially when you have a business that deals so completely with the public, must be corrected immediately. If not, than that business deserves to be shunned, and to make way for new businesses that can operate safely and properly.

The internet truly is a remarkable form of communication, helping to get the word out about what to do and see in Newton County and Covington.

However, the bad part of it is that it allows unnamed persons to criticize and defame good people and good businesses — that others will believe as true — without any recourse.

Those that use the internet for this purpose are nothing but cowards.