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About Jackson herald. (Jefferson, Jackson County, Ga.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 4, 2023)
PAGE 4A THE JACKSON HERALD WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2023 Opinions “Private opinion is weak, but public opinion is almost omnipotent. ”- Henry W ai d Beecher This week, and every week, newspapers are for you By Dean Ridings CEO of America’s Newspapers Americans have more media options than ever. We are inundated with stories, memes, videos and promotions 24 hours a day. Most of us are on social media, which is built to provide an endless feed of content to keep us glued to our screens. And unfortunately, misinforma tion is prevalent and much of that con tent isn’t fact-checked, verified or pro fessionally produced. The result is that we’re not always shown what we need to know, or the information that is most likely to impact our lives. That’s where local newspapers come in. Your local newspaper takes a different approach. National Newspaper Week is a good opportunity to recognize the commit ment that local newspapers make to the communities they serve. Your local newspaper is just that - local. It hires reporters who are trained to provide reliable information about the issues that matter most. Whether it’s the latest happening from the local school board, changes in real estate zoning, high school football scores or a review of that new restaurant you’ve been wanting to try, newspapers deliver what’s important to you. Your local newspaper is far more than just print. In the ever-changing media landscape, local newspapers have evolved to true multi-channel con tent providers. From websites to apps, emails, newsletters, video and podcasts, local newspapers are delivering news in innovative ways. As a reader, you get to choose when and where to get the news Dean Ridings you need, and no matter the method, can always be assured what you’re reading is credible and reliable. Although the format or device readers use to connect with their local newspa per might vary, it’s clear that newspa pers are relied on as the source for local news. A recent national study conducted by the independent research firm Coda Ventures shows that 79% of Americans use local newspapers to stay informed about their communities and depend on them to feel connected and to decide where they stand on local issues and to find places and things to do. Further, six out of 10 American adults use newspa per advertising to help them decide what brands, products and local services to buy. It’s clear that local newspapers are vital to healthy communities. In spite of the new ways to connect with your local newspaper, it’s true that the newspaper industry is facing signif icant challenges. Rising costs, national competitors and the impact of Big Tech companies using newspapers’ content without compensation have all impacted your local newspaper. Now, more than ever, we need their commitment to jour nalism’s core values. As we recognize National Newspaper Week, let’s focus on the vital role that newspapers play and consider how we can support them. Subscribing or advertising in your local newspaper not only supports the news paper but is also an investment in your community. On a national level, the Community News and Small Business Support Act (HR 4756) has recently been introduced in Congress. This bill would provide local newspapers with financial sup port for their newsroom employees, and would go a long way to providing your newspaper with support for the reporters and photographers that are sorely need ed. Encourage your members of Con gress to support this bill! Whether you access the content from your local newspaper in print or online, remember that it is produced for you. And behind the articles, columns, and images your newspaper produces is a team of local residents who are commit ted to making your community stronger! Join me in thanking your local newspa per - during National Newspaper Week - for the good work it does to keep your community informed. A city Without a NEWSPAPER IS A city wiTttovrr a soul -LUISA. FERRE ia WflliOlWL NEWSR&PER WEEK Lisa Cobum Kesler, more than just a murder victim The story of a woman from Jackson County who was found murdered 33 years ago in North Carolina is one of the most interesting, but tragic, crime stories I’ve seen in a long time. Lisa Cobum graduated from Jackson County High School in 1989. Several classmates said they don’t remember too much about her. A few weeks after graduation, she married and became Lisa Cobum Kesler. Then... nothing. There’s a lot we don’t know yet about where Lisa was between June 1989 when she married and September 1990 when an unidentified body a murder victim, was found along Interstate 40, south of Hillsborough, NC at the New Hope Church Rd. in tersection. 1-40 goes toward Chapel Hill, NC, which was a few more miles south. It took investigators 33 years, using new DNA techniques, to determine that the unknown body was that of Lisa Coburn Kesler from Jackson County Georgia. • •• Time is a voracious consumer of information. Memories fade, people move, information gets lost. The Lisa Cobum Kesler story is evidence of that. That story overlapped another one this week when long time Jackson County archivist Charlotte Mealor was honored for her tireless years of work to preserve and protect thou sands of old county court records. Those records are invaluable for people doing genealog ical research, or trying to document various details of the county’s long history. It’s a wonder the records survived. Years ago, some county leaders apparently wanted to haul it all to the dump. What a huge, huge loss that would have been to the county. It was people like Mealor who made sure that didn’t hap pen. It took over a decade to sort out, but the old records are now available for the public to see. Still, the archiving efforts show just how tenuous public documents can be. It’s not uncommon for local governments to have no record of past actions, especially when those ac tions are a decade or two old. That came up last year in the City of Commerce in a zoning dispute — the city had no record of a past zoning. That’s not uncommon. • •• Unfortunately those archives don’t tell us about Lisa Co bum Kesler. Perhaps law enforcement officials in North Car olina have some records, but here in Jackson County, there isn’t too much. We did find her photo in old high school yearbooks that we keep on file. From that, we contacted a few classmates to see what they remembered about her. Not much, it turns out. Maybe there are people out there who remember more about her, but so far, we’ve not found them. The most info we found was in her engagement announce ment that ran in The Jackson Herald a couple of weeks after she graduated from high school. From that, we know her par ents and grandparents’ names and who she married, but not much else. Where are her parents today? Alive? Dead? Moved away? Somebody might know, but we don’t, not yet anyway. Most agree banning books is a waste of time The EveryLibrary Institute, a public policy think tank for li braries, and Book Riot, the largest independent editorial book site in North America, announce the results of a comprehen sive survey of parents about their perceptions of public librar ies and the current issues that libraries face. The “Public Libraries and Book Bans — Parent Perception Survey” gathered insights from 853 parents and guardians with children under 18 during September 2023. The survey asked parents and guardians to share their experiences and opinions about book bans, their trust in libraries and their understanding of librarians’ book selection process, and their feelings on sensitive subjects in children’s books, such as sex, LGBTQ+ characters and themes, race, and social justice is sues in reading and literature. The survey results are detailed in a new report from Every Library Institute and Book Riot. Top-level findings are: 67% of respondents agree or somewhat agree that “banning books is a waste of time”. 74% agree or somewhat agree that book bans infringe on their right to make decisions for their children (42% agree; 32% somewhat agree). 92% of all respondents say that they feel their child/children are safe at the library. 58% think librarians should be primarily responsible for what books are selected in the public library. 57% say that reading opens children up to new ideas, new people, and new perspectives, and 44% say that teens should have access to books on controversial subjects and themes. 43% report that their local library has age restrictions on children’s library card borrowing privileges; 19% report that there are no restrictions on the child’s card; and 37% are un sure. A majority of respondents (53%) do not know how librari ans decide what books should be in a library collection. A supermajority (66%) of respondents said ‘no’ when asked if a book that their child checked out made them (the parent) uncomfortable; 67% said ‘no’ when asked if their child has ever been uncomfortable with a book they checked out. Parents and guardians are more comfortable with a child accessing age-appropriate children’s books related to “social justice” and “race/racism” than they are with a child accessing age-appropriate children’s books related to “LGBTQ+ char acters” and “puberty and sexual education” themes. Findings suggest that parents feel their children are safe at the library and believe they should be the ones to make decisions about what books their child reads. Most parents do not support book bans and believe they infringe on their rights. Parents are more comfortable with children accessing age-appropriate books related to social justice and race than LGBTQ+ themes and sexual education. Respondents are largely unaware of how librarians decide what books to in clude in the library collection. Many respondents believe that some books in children’s sections are inappropriate. “Our report sheds light on the perceptions of parents regard ing public libraries and the current issues they face,” said John Chrastka, EveryLibrary Institute Executive Director. “Togeth er with Book Riot, we are dedicated to empowering libraries to provide exceptional services that meet the unique needs of parents. The results of this survey can be used to improve li brary services and address parents’ concerns, ultimately lead ing to better experiences at the library for parents and their children.” You can download a copy of the report at: https://www.everylibraryinstitute.org/parent_perceptions_ survey_2023 The Jackson Herald Jefferson, Ga. 30549 Founded 1875 Merged with The Commerce News 2017 The Official Legal Organ of Jackson County, Ga. Postmaster: Send Address Changes To: MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. PO Box 908 Jefferson, Georgia 30549-0908 Web Site: www.JacksonHeraldTODAY.com Email: mike@mainstreetnews.com Voice: 706.367.5233 Periodical Postage paid at Jefferson, GA 30549 (SCED 271980) Yearly Subscriptions: $45 / $40 for seniors ••• Overlapping this search is a search for some of my for mer high school classmates. My 1977 graduating class had around 100 students; around 20-25 of those people we don’t have contact information for. They’re missing and even in this era of social media and vast internet records, some are proving difficult to locate. It’s funny how quickly people we once knew disappear from our lives. People leave high school and disburse. As a teenager, lives revolved around friends, sports, school. There was a structure to all of that, an unspoken system of where we fit in, or maybe didn’t fit in. Then it’s over. While there’s a lot of nostalgia embedded in old high school memories, the troth is high school is but a small, small part of our lives. College, work, families — life moves on and those old connections from our youth get strained, then, perhaps with a few exceptions, lost. That girl who sat next to you in history class... what was her name? The boy to took you to homecoming as a sopho more, what was his name? • •• We know that law enforcement officials in North Carolina are searching for who killed Lisa Cobum Kesler. Maybe they have evidence they’re not talking about. Maybe they have suspects. There’s a lot we don’t yet know. It’s not clear if she was ever reported as a missing person, or if she had runaway. It’s not clear where her family is today. Lots of unanswered ques tions remain. We see her past dimly through the fog of time. For 33 years, the only visual identification North Carolina authorities had of their unknown murder victim were foren sic sketches and mockups. Now, we have her high school senior photo and her en gagement photo. We know what she looked like. That’s something. But who was she? What was she like? What were her dreams? Did she have siblings? Where is her family? If anyone out there knows, please reach out and contact us. Lisa Cobum Kesler deserves to be remembered for more than just being a murder victim. Mike Buffington is co-publisher of Mainstreet Newspa pers. He can be reached at mike@mainstreetnews.com.
