Community Leaders' Column

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 2, Issue 38, 12 March 1985, Page 3

Community Leaders' Column

I find the task of writing the inaugural article for the Bulletin's 'Community Leaders' Column' extraordinarily difficult. This surprises me. Only yesterday I put the final fullstop to a full length novel. Over the past two or three weeks I seem to have given as much thought to these few words as I have given to my own writing. Maybe I can blame the editor who has told me that what I write must be of relevance to residents of Ohakune or of the Ruapehu region. Not that I truly think this prevents me from ranging far and wide. A search through the columns of recent editions of the paper has been of some help in discovering relevance. I note in the issue of last week that regional readers of the Bulletin are less enthusiastic of the paper's coverage of their community activities than are those resident in Ohakune. The suggestion exists in the article that the Bulletin

admits to an imbalance. To me,- a survey of the paper suggests otherwise. An ample flow of news, pictures, advertising, covers all corners of the paper's circulation area. However, should an imbalance exist may I humbly suggest that this is somewhat inevitable. The 'Waimarino Bulletin' is based in Ohakune and operates from offices provided by people of this town. Far be it for me to suggest that perhaps more news is generated from this corner

of the circulation area than from others. I have worked for some. time to get the message across to our provincial daily newspaper that they have a responsibility to more thoroughly report the happenings in this part of their region. However, even in the full knowledge that the population of the hinterland they serve roughly equals that of their city base, I would scarcely expect absolute equality of coverage. Funnily enough I had

considered writing this particular column on the painful process of paying rates and taxes. It is surely as painful as it is unavoidable and ironic, too, in that the payment of both seems to fotlow so swiftly on the heels of the festive season. I have decided to leave this topic until a later date.

William

Taylor