A classic example of people believing, often incorrectly, that bigger is better, are the letters to the editor and guest opinions submitted to the Opinion Page.

For letters, our limit is 250 words and many writers say they can’t express their full and true opinion with that limited amount of space. When they hear about guest opinions, which can be up to about 600 words, they immediately want to write one.
First, and most important, almost every opinion can be expressed in 250 words or less. It just takes some concise writing and editing.

However, as you know, we do run guest opinions, which allows the authors to go into detail on why or why not they favor or oppose a particular issue.

We’re pleased that readers want to write and get their opinions published. As I’ve often stated, the purpose of the Opinion Page is to be a forum for readers and local residents to express their views.

However, because of the large number of letters and requests for guest opinions and our limited space, we’ve had to establish some firmer rules and regulations for guest opinions.

Generally, guest opinions are granted to individuals who have some expertise on the subject that they want to discuss. For example, a school superintendent writing about a district budget would be an appropriate guest opinion.

Also acceptable would be a local community leader writing about controversial issues in his area or a state representative discussing proposed legislation.
The list of appropriate guest opinions could be quite extensive but I think you get the message.

Also, a few years ago, we offered political leaders the opportunity to write, no more than once a month, a guest opinion about issues brewing in their areas. Of course, when dealing with politicians, we have to insist they keep their guest opinion to a specific topic and not turn it into a “vote for me” piece.

Admittedly, there are some guest opinion writers who may not seem to have particular expertise on a topic but we still grant them the space. They are normally people who have been writing for years and are generally grandfathered in.

There is one alternative for people who want to write longer letters than 250 words. These often end up being 400 or 500 words in length. We can put them online on our website. Fortunately, the Internet has an infinite amount of space. So it can accommodate the longer letters. However, most people usually want to see their correspondence in print, not just on the web.

It would be great if we had the space to allow everyone who wanted to, the option of writing a guest opinion instead of a letter. But we don’t. Admittedly, some of the rules may be loose and sometimes items are run as guest opinions that should have been kept to letters. We make mistakes and we are always reevaluating our policies.

We constantly strive to achieve two basic goals: We want to continue to be a forum for the opinions of our readers and we want to be fair in doing so.

“Fair,” obviously, can be a relative term. But we’ll keep trying.

Michigan’s crumbling road system has drivers doing many things to save their vehicles from potentially hundreds of dollars worth of car repairs.

Alert drivers try to straddle pot holes or even swerve to avoid them, obviously a dangerous act depending upon the traffic volume.

When on our freeways and major highways, there appears to be more rugged roadway on the left lanes, probably because they are used more. The passing or fast lane is often in a little better, if not a lot better shape than its sister lanes.

This is creating an interesting legal question. To avoid the bone jarring and body shaking experience not really desired in a drive on the highway, many people are moving over to the fast lane.

They are driving the speed limit but you have to wonder, is it legal? Driving over the maximum speed limit certainly is asking for a ticket. But, if you hold up an impatient driver, can you get a ticket?

I have contemplated this question since my drive into work this morning. Don’t worry, I will do more. I’ll check with our local law enforcement officials and get back to you.

In the meantime, what do you think? Would you travel in a fast lane, at maximum posted speed, to save your car some damage but risk the wrath of a speeding driver?

The Oakland Press this past week sponsored an event that offered suspense, some drama and plenty of keen competition.

For me, it was the second activity of the month that was part of would I call Academic March Madness.

No, this past Sunday wasn’t a sporting event, although the competition can be just as intense as a game in the popular NCAA March Madness Basketball Tournament.

The contest I’m talking about is much more cerebral than basketball but that doesn’t mean it takes any less amount of skill and preparation.

The Oakland Press Regional Spelling Bee was conducted with 93 youngsters competing from throughout Oakland County.

The Bee was at The Oakland Intermediate School offices and saw the young spellers go more than four and a half hours, with Mahati Vavilala finally being declared the winner. It took almost 20 rounds for the Novi Middle School eighth grader to outlast her opponents.

I was the chief judge and one of three for the contest. As I’ve written, I was honored to be a judge for the Auburn Hills Optimist Club Oratorical Contest earlier this month.

I’ve been a spelling bee judge for the past several and helped out in some way since The Oakland Press started sponsoring the regional spelling bee in 1995.

Every youngster was a winner Sunday because they had to be the top speller from their respective elementary or junior high school to advance to regional competition.

For Mahati, there’s much more excitement coming her way. As a regional winner, she advances to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C. June 1-2. There are cash and merchandise prizes for youngsters who finish at all levels but the top prize is a not too shabby $30,000 scholarship.

It’s a fantastic experience for a youngster and his or her family. I was fortunate to be able to cover the national bee for several years in a row and the contest is conducted in an exceptional manner. It’s well organized and one wonderful feature, the youngsters are treated to outings in the Washington area. Although competition is only two days, the youngsters usually arrive the previous Sunday and spend a terrific week sightseeing and enjoying our nation’s capitol.

Yes, there’s a lot at stake, as I’ve mentioned, from the $30,000 top prize cash winnings all the way down. And consequently, there’s a lot of studying to do. To prepare for even the regional level, students normally study daily for several hours.
No doubt all of the national contestants, which will number around 350, will spend a good portion of their week studying for the competition.

But all of the spellers would be wise not to just focus on the bee. They should remember that they will be competing against the best of the best and they should take solace in knowing that where ever they finish, it was a terrific accomplishment.
Also, if the spellers and their parents are smart, they’ll make the most of the opportunity to see Washington.

There’s a wonderful benefit I receive as an editor with The Oakland Press.

Every year for the past 17 I’ve represented the newspaper as one of three judges at the annual Auburn Hills Morning Optimist Club Oratorical Contest.

The competition is fascinating and impressive as boys and girls, generally in grades 7-12, give speeches before fellow contestants, judges and an audience of parents and Optimist Club members. Each year the topic is different. This year's was "If I were the leader of the free world the first issue I would address would be...." I have yet to judge a year when all of the youngsters weren’t competitive, making the selection of a winner very difficult.

Eight boys competed last week, March 10, and eight girls went head to head this past Thursday. The top-three winners are given medals with the youth who finished first moving on to the regional contest.

This is not an easy competition. It takes a lot of courage for these young people to get up and give a speech that is not only logical and makes a point but also presented with various emotional innuendoes and nuances. The more skilled a contestant is at the latter, the better are his or her chances of winning the local contest and moving on to higher levels.

But you have to be proud of all the young people for just standing up before an audience and giving their speech. They are setting the stage for personal success later in the life. They are taking on a challenge — in this case speaking before a group of people — and they are winners by the mere fact they did it.

The first time I served as a judge was in 1994, when my boss asked me to take his place because he had to back out due to another commitment. I wasn’t quite sure what I was getting into but it didn’t take long to realize how honored I was to be associated with the contest.

From a longevity standpoint, my 17 years is soundly eclipsed by another judge, George Cartsonis, who has been serving as a representative from Oakland Community College for 27 years. This year’s third judge was Judy Martin, of Oakland University.

Over the years, I realized that as judges, we weren’t doing too bad a job. Many of those who we selected as local winners went on and did well in the advanced competition. In fact, last year’s girl winner, Malanie Grant, won the regional contest in Southfield and took top honors at the state level. Besides the wonderful experience, Malanie also brought home a $2500 scholarship.

I've learned a lot serving as a judge. I have been fortunate to realize we have many good young people who will be growing into very solid citizens. They will be conscientious about their environment,their careers and their communities.

Because the Optimist Club is a morning group, the competition begins at 7:30 a.m. I have to admit at first, I wasn’t real excited about starting my day at that early hour. But I soon realized it’s not a hardship. Besides, the Optimists provide a very tasty continental breakfast — and great company to enjoy it!

So, you might ask, what does this have to do with the Opinion Page? Well, in my opinion, our society could use more groups like the Optimist Club and more competitions like the oratory contest.

I’ve mentioned in previous blogs that I’ve got a backlog of letters to the editor and guest opinions.

Well, as hard as a I try, because of space limitations sometimes I can’t get them all on the published Opinion Page.

But I do have an option — I can put them online.

Most people, understandably, prefer to have their letter printed in a regular edition but sometimes it’s just not possible. So, instead letting the letter languish for several more weeks — to the point where it is completely outdated — we place the letters online.

I keep the letters usually at least two weeks but sometimes if a writer is discussing a topic that already is old or will be outdated soon, that letter also goes online.
Usually, the topic in a letter going online already has been written about by another writer whose letter did get published, so the topic isn’t completely ignored, it’s just we couldn’t get all of the letters in.

Because the time element can make a letter grow outdated so quickly, the only alternatives are to just not run it or put in online. One benefit for putting the letter online is that it can run in its entirety. A 300 word or larger letter often must be cut before it can get printed. The limit is 250 words. But because there is basically unlimited space on the web, I will run the long letter without trimming it, unless it had inaccurate and libelous information.

So, going online Thursday at theoaklandpress.com will be letters from the following writers: Alexis Allum, Leonard; Jim Head, Oak Park; Rev. James E. Fleming, Rochester Hills; Walter Sobczak, Novi, Allison Sandvig, Waterford; Jim Nowka, Northville; Elise Payton, Farmington; Joel King, Oxford; Stew Wasson, Highland; David L. Wisz, Birmingham; Mark Wagner, Rochester Hills and Tracy Thomas, Commerce.

We are proud of the commitment to do everything within our power to publish your letters to the editor, provided they meet the basic standards of about 250 words, no foul language and no libelous statements.

But there is one type of letter that probably won’t get printed. In fact, we’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t even bother to send it.

That’s the form-letter, usually written by some public relations person for a certain group and then individuals sign it and send it in. From time to time, I get these form letters. They’re letters not only talking about and backing the same subject but they are written almost exactly the same — same sentences, same wording.

They’re usually pretty well written but they are also bothersome and time consuming.
Realistically, there’s no way any newspaper would publish the same letter five or 10 or more times and just have it signed by a different person.

No newspaper has that kind of space and most readers wouldn’t bother with them.

Form letters that I receive from outside our coverage area are relatively easy to handle — I delete them.

But form letters from readers and individuals without our coverage area aren’t so easily managed.

That's because The Oakland Press cares about its readers and does want to serve them and provide a forum for their views. Consequently, I usually try to respond to them and let them know we appreciate their efforts in sending in the letter but we won’t run it in its current, copied form.

As I usually say in a note to such individuals, “this letter appears to be copied, almost word for word — rearranging the paragraphs or adding one sentence of your own is not enough — and technically this could be considered plagiarism.” The latter term has prompted several heated responses from people who are incensed that we won’t run the letter and insulted that we said it bordered on plagiarism.

Well, technically, it does. When you put your name to someone else’s writing, that’s plagiarism.

To further back up my point, Webster’s New World dictionary defines plagiarize as “...to take (ideas, writings, etc.) from (another) and pass them off as one’s own.”
Of course, the writers aren’t going to be sued or taken to court — at least not by The Oakland Press. But I hope we get our point across.

And the topics don’t matter. Whether the letter is for or against abortion or for or against Gov. Rick Snyder’s budget, if we get more than one letter written with exactly the same wording, they won’t run.

Sometimes the writer argues that while he didn’t write the letter, he agrees with what it states. That fine, that’s his right. But to submit it as a letter to the editor and sign his name to it won’t get it published.

Ironically, some people are so outraged that we won’t run their form letter that they write back and in several paragraphs explain why we should. What I usually tell them is that their response by my note is what we’re looking for in a letter to the editor — an opinion expressed and written in the author’s own words. If they would have just said that initially instead of sending in the form letter, their views would be well on the way to being published.

Letters to the editor don’t have to be written in perfect English or in Pulitzer Prize-winning fashion. They only have to be views expressed in the author’s own words.

Regular readers of The Oakland Press have probably noticed the “darts and laurels” feature on our Saturday Opinion Page.

We also refer to the column as our “thumbs” feature — for obvious reasons. We give thumbs up and thumbs down to individuals, groups, communities and/or organizations. Anyone and anything is fair game.

The only basic rule is that the accolade or criticism has to go to a person or entity that was written about, usually during the previous week.

Generally, the “thumbs up” items don’t draw much dispute. It’s hard to criticize some one who wins an award or a group that has raised money for a charity. Probably the only negative statement is that some items that deserve the extra spotlight don’t get in because we can only run a total of four each week. And usually we try to throw in at least one thumbs down. These latter items are the most difficult because what one person considers negative action may be deemed appropriate by someone else.

For example, some one convicted of a serious crime deserves a thumbs down, to say the least. And there are many criminals who fall into this category who escape the digital rating because we just don’t have space.

But what about city council that closed the local library because of a lack of operating funds? Should it get a thumbs down for closing such a popular facility? Should it get the negative assessment because it couldn’t find other areas of the budget to trim?

Maybe, however, the council deserves a thumbs up for being fiscally prudent and balancing the budget. This is one area so subject to debate and opinion that rarely do we chastise a city for taking such action.

On the other hand, we might give a well earned downward pointed thumb to a city council that cut library funds but went on a junket to Florida. Still, even here it’s sometimes debatable. Maybe the trip was for a seminar that taught city council members how to budget more prudently.

A number of readers have called the Saturday feature a “thumb sucker,” saying it really has no news value because all it does it repeat something that happened earlier in the week.

Likewise, many readers like the feature and even more respond when they disagree with a thumbs down.

For those who want to be reminded, The Oakland Press is reader driven and we try to provide subscribers with what they want.

And based on this policy, the darts and laurels column will be around for a while.

The fact I receive letters daily is not news — that’s part of the job.

But the volume of letters often differ, as you might expect, depending upon what’s happening in the news.

Generally, I tell readers that their letters, provided they meet the basic standards, will be published in a one to two weeks. This normally gives me time to fulfill my commitment. But sometimes that one to two week window isn’t enough.

That’s why I’ve decided to write in this blog, from time to time,to give you an update on the letters to the editor situation.

As you may have guessed, one of the reasons for this particular blog is that I’m falling behind on my letters. Issues in the news are consuming a large percentage of the letters I receive. Gov. Rick Snyder’s budget is by far the most popular topic. This can be broken down into letters concerned about the proposed tax on pensions to correspondence asking the governor not to cut education spending or revenue sharing for local communities.

Some letters discuss other topics, such as health care, the deficit, etc., but by far, at this time, the governor’s budget is the most written about subject.

Because there is a time element to these letters, I have put somewhat of a priority on getting them in. Letters about clean energy, abortion and government waste will have to take a back seat, for now. They’re important topics but they are issues that have been brewing for years and most likely are not going to go away any time soon.

Generally, we run letters on a first come, first serve basis. That’s why you may see a number of letters printed for a particular issue and then and a number of letters written in response.But sometimes I have to bend this rule if one letter has a more critical time element than another.

The good news for letter writers is that eventually I will get their correspondence in, either on an Opinion Page or at least online on The Oakland Press website.
Every letter is important but, because of space limitations, every letter can’t run the day after we receive it.

Please be patient and understanding and if you have some suggestions to improve this system, feel free to comment or contact me.