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Editorial: Sign Thefts - Fear of the Opposition?
October 14th, 2004

Editorial: Police Arrested a Person
October 7th, 2004

Editorial: Korean Cloud on the Horizon
September 14th, 2004

Editorial: Moratorium Battle Heats Up
August 30th, 2004

Editorial: Orders From the Top
August 12th, 2004

Editorial: On the Value of Art
July 14th, 2004

Editorial: Of Voles and Men
June 24th, 2004

Editorial: Clam Poaching, are We Number One?
June 4th, 2004

Editorial: Leadership Overcomes Flawed Process in Missile Range Decision
May 10th, 2004

Editorial: Bomb Range Inn
April 25th, 2004

Editorial: Is the President Above the Law?
April 8th, 2004

Editorial: The "Good Old Days"
March 15th, 2004

Editorial: Access to Public Records
March 1st, 2004

Editorial: Sunset Park: A Reality?
February 23rd, 2004

Editorial: The "Tree Ordinance"
February 9th, 2004

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Speaking About Speak Out

Speaking About Speak Out

Editorial

Cedar Key News has recently received "input" regarding the value and or undesirability of Speak Out. Strangely, some readers have used Speak Out to express their objection to its existence. Another reader cited the fact that several founding fathers of our country published their opinions anonymously in what are now known and revered as the Federalist Papers.


More recently, the Freedom Wall in Beijing was used to criticize the Chinese government. The need for anonymity stemmed from fear of reprisal, a justified fear. In the United States an anonymous source called Deep Throat was instrumental in forcing the resignation of President Nixon. (Nixon's Attorney General, John Mitchell, tried to intimidate the publisher of the Washington Post with metaphoric threats of violence.) Not long ago a man who spoke out at a Commission meeting found roofing nails in his driveway and his boat cut adrift. Speak Out provides a place for opinions to be expressed without fear of retaliation.


Cedar Key News does not vouch for the truth of anything posted in Speak Out. We do not edit postings in any way, on pain of losing our legal protection. However, our current policy is to have an author's name with each posting. Furthermore, we are considering a mechanism that requires registration to access certain specified sections of our paper. Speak Out may be so specified. Registrants will not be identified as readers or posters. That section will keep unregistered readers from accidentally reading an opinion that is offensive to them. Registered readers must recognize postings for what they are, i.e. opinions.


When the Florida Department of Transportation threatened to cut down the trees along State Highway 24 a timely posting on Speak Out brought out a protest that saved the trees. Opinions on such as the Arts Festival, political candidates and the need to enforce state law must be taken for what they are, opinions. Let us hear what the people of Cedar Key think about the need for Speak Out.

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