You probably have noticed that from time to time, The Oakland Press has done editorials on topics that were previously written about.

But we’re not trying to be redundant or just fill space on a day when we could not think of a subject to discuss. Some topics are just fair game for repeat editorials — and for good reasons.

One reason is that the subject matter warranted an updated editorial. We had written about it before but there was new information. Sometimes the new data changed the editorial stance but usually it just enhances a position taken.

For example, we’ve editorialized numerous times on medical marijuana, including once this week. It’s not that we want to belabor the issue but new developments dictated an updated editorial. When it was first put on the ballot, we editorialized against its passage. But voters still approved it. However, when it was instituted, it became ironically clear that it the law governing medical marijuana use was convoluted and confusing. Thus, another editorial urging law makers to clarify the law was in order.
Along these same lines, during the past year many local communities placed moratoriums on the distribution of medical marijuana until they could figure out what their best course of action would be. So, an editorial, in this case, supporting the communities was in order.

Sometimes, an editorial is dictated by the calendar. As you probably noticed, every year we write Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s day editorials.

That’s because the message expressed last year warrants repeating to remind readers.
For example, the New Year’s Eve editorial cautioned readers about drinking and driving. We reminded them that there would be extra police patrols on the roads to catch those driving drunk.

Consequently, there are legitimate reasons to write about a topic again, although we don’t want to just repeat an editorial word for word. We would update information and discuss new developments. For example, we often use statistics in discussing drunk driving accidents and deaths. Unfortunately, there are new figures every year to use in an editorial.
Sometimes, writing a new editorial about a previous topic or issue just makes sense.

The year is quickly ending and we’ve reached an interesting time period for The Oakland Press.

There’s not much happening this week that is planned from a straight news standpoint. Municipalities and school boards are not conducting meetings. They probably canceled any scheduled ones. For example, if they normally meet during the Fourth week of the month, odds are that session has been canceled.

So, the news that you’re getting now are feature stories or hard news events that are happening at the moment. For example, the storm in New England, obviously, is generating lots of air time and ink.

Locally, we seen some crime news and unfortunately, a few fires that taint the holidays.

From an editorial standpoint, there’s not a lot of ideas being generated this time of the year. But we do come up with a few, depending upon current events. We ran in today’s paper an editorial on the East Coast snowstorm. It was, basically, that this could happen here, but for the grace of God, so learn from the experience of our fellow Americans suffering through the blizzards and their aftermath. The most obvious lesson is to respect Mother Nature, she can certainly be humbling.

On Friday I’ll discuss why some topics are fair game for repeat editorials, although they probably won’t be repeated word for word. I’ll explain Friday.

There is a magic about Christmas — and it’s different for every person.

Growing up in the small community of Bad Axe, the county seat of Huron County, which is located at the tip of the Thumb of Michigan, I remember Christmas Eves and Christmas Days that were so tranquil, you felt you were in a picturesque Currier and Ives scene.

Although there were some holidays that didn’t have snow, Bad Axe is part of snow belt and it was usually a pretty sure bet you’d see that white stuff on the ground by Dec. 24.

Oh sure, during the day Dec. 24 the streets of the several blocks of the downtown were filled with cars and the sidewalks lined with shoppers getting ready for the holiday.

But by 9 p.m., maybe 10 p.m., the downtown streets were pretty vacant — residents were at home or maybe in church. And by midnight, when all or most of the people not at mass were snuggled into their beds, if you took a walk downtown (and it was very safe to do so in Bad Axe) you saw a sky that seemed clearer, snow that was cleaner and holidays lights were brighter then they are today. Were they more vivid? Maybe not, but one’s mind has a way of sharpening the scenes, even if the memory is dulled.

Of course, I’m going back 30-some years and maybe Christmas Eve in Bad Axe today wouldn’t exude the same feelings for me. Maybe they never did for anyone else. But that’s OK. These are my memories and I wanted to share them. What are your memories of Christmas? The good ones. The memories that bring a smile to your face and warmth to your soul.

Every year The Oakland Press writes a Christmas Eve editorial and a Christmas Day editorial. Of course, one of the main purposes is to highlight, as they say “the reason for the season.”

For Christians, it’s the celebration of the birthday of Jesus Christ. Yet, amid this one, simple reason, individual Christians have their own memories and celebrations of the holiday.

And for non-Christians who live in the United States, they too have had enough encounters with the holiday to have created their own memories, some admittedly, not necessarily positive.

But the ultimate point of any Christmas editorial, in any given year, is that the holiday may be Christian but its message is universal.

Peace on earth. Goodwill toward men. How can any sane, logical and reasonable person argue with those simple yet powerful goals?

Growing up Jewish in a small community that is 99.9 percent Christian is not necessarily difficult if the small town is in the United States, where most rural Americans value freedom of religion and respect individuals who possess moral values, a strong work ethic and integrity. Those values are espoused by Christianity but not confined to it. They are values that most religions today, ideally, would want to see in their followers.

So, enjoying Christmas in a small town — or in an urban center — is easy because there are no religious boundaries to the values Christ taught.

Every individual has his or her own recollection of Christmas. I just hope people dwell on the positive memories and not the negative ones.

There is a thought process to selecting topics for editorials. We don’t just sit around and say "let’s do an editorial on (you fill in the blank)."

No, we actually analyze what’s going on in the news and try to decide if a issue or topic warrants an editorial.

It’s similar to selecting stories for the news sections of the paper.
One of the first criteria is to keep the editorial local. We want to write about something that is happening in Oakland County or that might affect local residents. So, we could take a stand on a local millage issue or give some insight on a brewing controversy. The topic could concern the budget, a public safety regulation or, most often, it’s a political debate among two local leaders whose philosophies of governing differ.

Sometimes we’ll talk about a state and national issue but of course, it would be one that affects Oakland County residents — such as President Obama’s health care bill, continuation of the Bush tax cuts or state legislation dealing with roads. The topics can be numerous.

After establishing the local angle, we have to decide if there’s something we can say about it that would enlighten the public or prompt further discussion. For example, every community and school district has councils and boards that pass yearly budgets. Editorializing about each budget would be boring and frankly, impossible.

However, if that budget is passed with some dissension or disagreement over what should be included in it, then an editorial might be in order. Obviously, each incident would have to be reviewed for its potential significance and effect on the citizens and if an editorial would help, hurt or do nothing.

Many times it’s a judgment call as to what to write about.

Editorials can be informative, stir debate or just give some praise. One important fact about The Oakland Press editorials, they don’t always have to be negative or critical. Upbeat editorials provide a refreshing change from the gloom and doom of our economy and The Oakland Press has been running more and more of them.

Take a look at the newspaper and if you have any suggestions for editorials, let me know — either through this blog or by e-mailing me at allan.adler@oakpress.com.

As in most things, sometimes you’re successful and sometimes you run into road blocks that force you to go to Plan B.

Last week I talked about setting up a town hall meeting to discuss a local issue that has been in the news.

I’m currently trying to set up a town hall meeting or forum in Troy to discuss the controversial library issue. Voters turned down four millage proposal in November and so now the library is scheduled to close April 30.

In some respects, the issue may seem over but there’s a pending new citizen-initiated petition to force the city to keep its doors open reportedly in the works. Also, groups who supported the library proposals and who want to see the city keep open such a facility could always start drives for new election or elections.

Originally, I had hoped everything would came together and we’d have the forum this week — Dec. 14.

Obviously, it didn’t happen. The holidays, some personal schedule conflicts and just reluctance in participating by some people have forced us to reschedule for Jan. 13.

However, nothing is set in stone. Contact needs to be made with a number of individuals and plans finalized. Details include figuring out how to attract an audience and what is the fairest way to allow people to sit in if the number of people who want to attend is more than the studio capacity.

If all things come together, the topic will be discussed live in an informative session in the CMNtv studios in Troy. The program will be live-streamed to The Oakland Press website and also rebroadcast on cable TV.

On the other hand, if things again fall through, there’s always Plan C. Obviously, we don’t want to delay this too long because interest from all participants will eventually wane and the project halted.

However, we won’t give up. At least not yet. We’ll go through a couple more “plans” if we have too. Of course, we’d prefer not to have to go through the whole alphabet!

Trying to set up a town hall meeting that focuses on a local issue can be a daunting experience.

You can’t just pick a date and expect people to show up. There’s considering planning and legwork involved.

For example, I’m currently trying to set up a town hall meeting or forum in Troy to discuss the controversial library issue. Voters turned down four millage proposal in November concerning the library and so now the facility is scheduled to close April 30.

In some respects, the issue may seem over but there’s a pending new citizen-initiated petition to force the city to keep its doors open reportedly in the works. Also, groups who supported the library proposals and who want to see the city keep open such a facility could always start drives for new election or elections.

Libraries are a critical part of a community and so it would seem likely the issue isn’t going to die.

A possible date for the forum has been set for next Tuesday, Dec. 14 but I’m currently trying to line up participates to discuss the topic. It would have a question and answer type format that would include discussion of the current petition drive, what the Friends of the Library or other groups would like to see happen or are trying to make happen.

Consequently, the whole effort involves scheduling and rechecks, contacting and recontacting potential participants and then figuring out exactly what format will be used and how to find an audience of about 30 people that isn’t one sided.
As in any good journalism effort, the newspaper wants to stay impartial and involve all sides of the issue.

Because of the effort involved, there’s a chance the forum may have to be postponed if not enough participants can be lined up.

The town hall forum is a great idea but, as with all great ideas, it takes planning, legwork and considerable effort to make them a reality. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t. I’ll keep you informed on the progress of this project.

Beauty is often said to be “in the eye of the beholder.” Generally, this means that what I find attractive or beautiful someone else might not. It’s just matter of opinion.

The same could be said for fairness on the Opinion Page. A policy that The Oakland Press believes to be fair to all readers may not seem so to some individuals.

We publish letters on a first come, first basis — isn’t that fair? However, sometimes that yields an imbalance on the Opinion Page. We may get numerous letters in favor of a particular issue and none against it, at least until those who are in the opposition see the initial letters and respond accordingly. So, one day you may seen three or four letters in support of a particular cause or action and several days later you may see letters opposing it. Because of the backlog of letters and deadline restrictions, it’s almost impossible to run a response to a letter the next day, even if we got the response on the same day the original letter ran.

Sometimes we have to bend our rules. For example, it’s difficult for a letter to be exactly 250 words. Often they are less but many times they run over and register at 275 or even 300 words. We try to be flexible, that’s why we say “about” 250 words.
Also, if there’s a time element to a letter, we may have to put a priority on it. For example, if someone is writing urging City Council to pass a certain ordinance and the council is expected to meet on Friday, we’ll try to get the letter in before or on that day if we get the correspondence earlier in the week.

At times, too, we have to put a priority on responses. While it will take at least a few days for a letter to be processed and published, if it is in response or reaction to certain controversial statements made in a published letter, then we do try to run the response as soon as possible. It only seems fair.

As you can see, when it comes to the Opinion Page, it takes a lot of effort to be “fair” and usually it requires some help and considerable patients from our readers.
The page has several purposes, from being a forum for readers to express their views to making people think as well as stirring debate.
So, write us, either expressing your views on a new topic or responding to an opinion expressed in a previously published letter.

We can’t guarantee when it will run but we promise to eventually publish it, provided it meets the policy requirements, basically that it is not libelous or vulgar and is about 250 words.

Under the circumstances, this is about as “fair” as we can be.

Today’s editorial was about the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah.

It’s a wonderfully colorful and festive event that celebrates religious freedom. The original holiday was observed in honor of a military victory by ancient Jews over the Syrians, who wanted to force the Jews to worship their idols.

The Jews fought and won the right to worship as they please.

But why is it worth an editorial? For several reasons.

First, there is a significant Jewish population in The Oakland Press coverage area that appreciates the positive attention the editorial brings.

The second reason is for educational purposes — it lets non-Jews learn about the holiday. The more information is spread and learned, the greater the understanding of a religion, in this case Judaism.

Another reason for the editorial is that the holiday has a universal message — one quite similar to Christianity and other religions of the world. Hanukkah celebrates religious freedom and advocates that for all people of all faiths in all nations. Unfortunately, such universal freedom does not exist yet in this world and is probably centuries away.

But the wish is still there. And people of goodwill from all religions need to realize that their goals and desires are not that different from those of other cultures in the United States and throughout the world.

So, if you want to help celebrate Hanukkah, it’s easy. Just wish your Jewish friends or neighbors a “Happy Hanukkah.”