After more than three decades in the newspaper business, I know there are a few things you should never do.
One, for God's sake, please don't make a mistake in the lottery numbers. There is nothing quite like the feeling you get when you try to explain to a person that, unfortunately, no they really did not hit the Lotto and are not a multi-millionaire.
Yes, I have had that conversation.
Every day we strive to create the perfect newspaper. And nearly every day, we fail miserably.
We are human, we make mistakes. And we are under increasing staffing restraints that create a very slippery slope toward making precisely the kind of silly mistakes we strive to avoid.
This weekend we had something of a double-header in the mistakes category.
First off, we failed to run the Sunday crossword page.
Devoted readers of our print edition are becoming something of an endangered species. They are to be nurtured and cajoled. This weekend we kind of kicked them in the teeth.
There was no Puzzle page in the Sunday newspaper.
That is because we never got one from the syndicate that supplies those for the print edition.
That should not happen; it did.
So readers got a Sunday paper without their Sunday crossword. They also did not get a Cryptogram or Sudoku puzzle.
My hope is that we can deliver two pages next Sunday for our devoted print readers.
It's also never a good idea to run the wrong photo in the paper.
Yes, we are very much aware of who both former Chester Mayor John Linder and Sheridan Jones are.
No, that does not explain how we got the wrong photo on Page One Saturday teasing to a story inside detailing the fact that the ex-mayor is now mulling a run for County Council.
Bottom line - that kind of mistake should never happen.
But it did, and I apologize for it.
There is no hidden agenda here, no attempt to sabotage a Linder campaign. We've always been one of John's biggest boosters.
How did it happen? It has to do with computers, and staffing, and trying to do a thousands things at the same time on deadline. It has to do with a lot fewer eyes actually seeing a page before it goes to press than did a few years ago. And the fact that some of those eyes may not be as familiar with local people as we are.
None of that excuses the mistake. It shouldn't happen.
Today we once again will strive to create the perfect newspaper.
That's the goal. Reality is something else, as we painfully learned again this weekend.
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