Pubdate: Sun, 16 Nov 2014
Source: Chico Enterprise-Record (CA)
Copyright: 2014 Chico Enterprise-Record
Contact:  http://www.chicoer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/861
Note: Letters from newspaper's circulation area receive publishing priority
Author: David Little
Note: David Little is editor of the Enterprise-Record and Oroville 
Mercury-Register.

VOTERS LEARN TO USE THEIR VOICES, AND NEWSPAPERS HELP

A common narrative since Nov. 4 has been the number of people 
lamenting the low voter turnout, here and nationwide, as the death 
knell for democracy.

I saw something different, at least locally.

I saw citizens get involved, speak up and influence the outcome of 
the vote on marijuana growing in Butte County.

What a difference from two years ago.

In 2012, marijuana advocates mounted a ballot-box challenge to 
restrictions the Butte County supervisors tried to impose. A 
referendum on the rules was decided in an election. Marijuana 
advocates spoke out, spent a lot of money on advertising of various 
kinds and ultimately prevailed on election day with 55 percent of the vote.

Residents on the losing end of the vote were stunned. They thought 
they had a righteous cause, particularly when it came to the safety 
of rural neighborhoods. But there was little in the way of organized 
opposition and nobody leading the charge.

I talked to too many people in that election cycle who wanted to 
speak out but didn't want to use their names. They said they were 
afraid of the pot growers.

I patiently explained many times that we don't print anonymous 
comments in news stories and we don't print letters signed by "name 
withheld." If there was support for the county's position, those 
people would have to speak out.

For the most part, they didn't. And they lost.

I'd like to think they learned from the mistake. This time they 
formed a group, called BSANE (which stands for "Butte Safe Access, 
Not Excess"). They spoke out at public meetings. They wrote letters 
to the editor - and signed them. They enlisted retired Sheriff Jerry 
Smith, himself a rural resident, to serve as a figurehead and 
spokesman. They raised money to advertise and hang signs. They built 
a website. They wouldn't be bullied. They didn't back down.

In short, they did everything right. And they won on Nov. 4, with 
60.8 percent of the vote for their preferred Measure A.

The growers' choice, Measure B, lost with two-thirds of the people voting no.

Afterward, I received several emails thinking us for our "support." I 
told most of the people that we appreciate the kind words, but 
deflected the credit to those who spoke out.

"We don't have stories if nobody is willing to talk to us. We don't 
have a letters page if nobody is willing to write," I wrote to one of 
them. "Democracy doesn't work if people don't participate. Newspapers 
are the same way."

To another, I said: "A newspaper is a great megaphone. But a 
megaphone is quiet if you don't talk into it."

Some people seem perfectly willing to prematurely bury newspapers. 
This election reminded me of their importance.

Now that the election is over, we're focused on a couple of projects 
we had been putting off.

One involves changes to page 2A. We're removing the "Start Your Day 
Here" title, as well as some of the content, starting Tuesday. We'll 
keep the lottery results there, along with "Today in History" and 
usually one piece of entertainment news.

We're taking out the "Trending," "News Feed" and "Best of the Web" 
items in response to reader feedback.

We're also going to use far more local photos in the "Hot Shot" on 
that page. Readers will be able to submit photos for consideration to The other project will, we hope, be invisible to the readers. We're 
switching to a new Web publishing system.

We bought a new computer system earlier this year and have been using 
it for print publishing. Now we're going to use the same system for 
online publishing, which in theory should make things easier. We'll see.

It won't change the look or feel of our website, though we are making 
minor tweaks at the same time, including removing items that will 
make the page load quicker.

If all goes as planned, we'll make the change tomorrow.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom