I frequently get calls from people wanting to get a letter into “tomorrow’s newspaper.”

Their reasons are legitimate enough. Usually their topic involves some breaking news or something that is happening two days from now and they want to get a one-day jump on it.

While we like to accommodate, most of the time we have to say that we can’t do it.
Although The Oakland Press is a daily newspaper, some pages, such as Opinion Page, must be processed early so that the entire paper meets all of its publishing deadlines.

The Opinion Page is usually laid out two days ahead of time. Some times the pages are put out even earlier. It makes it easier for the copy desk to efficiently process all of the news, features and sports pages.

Admittedly, we occasionally can substitute a last minute editorial and we do make corrections on the next day’s page. But to place a letter on the page would involve literally tearing it down and rebuilding it, a time consuming process that involves several people.

Normally, a letter to the editor doesn’t get published for a week or two, depending upon when it came in and how many letters must get in before it.

But even if there were good reasons to get a letter received one day in the next day’s paper, for logistical reasons, we are forced to decline the request.