| The Story | Dennis Penney pushes a plan for commissioners to spend $5 million, via an increase in taxes, to substantially upgrade fire fighting equipment for the various departments within the county. This will, Penney claims, cause fire insurance premiums "on a frame house with $100,000 coverage [to] drop nearly $600 a year". The fire chiefs (surprise!) unanimously voted to back the proposal. |
| News worthiness (on a scale of 0 to 5) | *** |
| The Spin | If all this is true, we're all for it. But doesn't a $600 reduction on a $100,000 policy sound too good to be true? (State Farm's average rate for an $80,000 structure/ $32,000 contents policy is $990). |
| The Story | The City of Fairview falls on hard times in that the telephone is out of order, its credit cards have been canceled, and its post office box has been closed. |
| News worthiness | ** |
| The Spin | In a shocking move in order to save the city, the city council voted to disguise themselves as Salvation Army representatives, load up with bells and buckets, and begin a pilgrimage to Walmart. |
| The Story | Messenger Editor Skip Nichols writes that more than 35% of all Wise County voters last month voted straight ticket - whether it be Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, or Green party. |
| News worthiness | *** |
| The Spin | And to think that we can't even use a butterfly ballot as an excuse. |
| The Story | The Messenger employee who is responsible for writing little snippets underneath the paper's photographs possibly suffered a heart attack on Saturday morning. |
| News worthiness | * |
| The Spin | See Saturday's edition, page 9A. |
| The Story | "Superstar" (their word, not ours) Larry Gatlin will perform on behalf of Weatherford College in March to raise funds for the school's agricultural program. (Messenger, Wednesday, p. 5A). |
| News worthiness | * |
| The Spin | The Captain and Tenille were apparently unavailable. |