Paul Scott comment: "No more bad news, please!"

"But February made me shiver
With every paper I'd deliver
Bad news on the doorstep
I couldn't take one more step"

Can we hold off on any more bad news in Decorah for the next month?  By my count, we've had six deaths from accidents in the last five weeks, as well as one bank robbery and one construction accident.  It's enough to make me consider a different career—but it's probably too late for that.

Some people think news reporters enjoy reporting bad news.  Maybe that's true in the bigger cities, where reporters don't know the people involved in news stories.  But in a small town, most people know one another—or at least are acquaintances.  So reporting bad news isn't fun.

I have a friend who has retired from being a weather forecaster in Colorado.  He calls me whenever Iowa is getting bad weather, the glee in his voice barely disguised.  Yes, it's exciting for a weather geek when storms happen, but here in Decorah we've bailed out our basements too often to be happy when clouds get dark.

So let's declare the rest of June and all of July "Take a Break Month" and—keep your fingers crossed—let's not have any serious news stories for the next five weeks.  That will be bad for the "news reporting business," but I think we're all ready for a break from the dark clouds that have settled in on local news lately.