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Hey! We didn't forget your town!

Friday, September 26, 2008 11:50 PM CDT

Some of the people who call me on the phone offer news tips, others ask questions and some are annoyed by things they say we have or have not done.

There are times, too, when someone calls to give my staff credit for a job well done. Because I am relentlessly optimistic, I anticipated getting a friendly call or two following the Wednesday publication of "Our Towns. Our Pride."

The special report is a collection of profiles of our Southern Illinois communities; a large sprawling project that is being published on three separate Wednesdays: Sept. 24, Oct. 1 and Oct. 8.

Wednesday's issue was the first of the three, which was explained both in the section and on the front page of the paper. I thought our readers would find it obvious that towns and cities not included in the first issue would be included in the second or third edition. Silly me, as my friend John Skipper of Mason City, Iowa, would say.

What I should have done was include several notes throughout the section about the upcoming issues. The readers who called to complain about their towns being left out had quickly noticed the towns were in alphabetical order and didn't include their community. They didn't see the explanations.

I got calls from Anna, Benton, Carbondale, Carterville, Johnston City, Jonesboro and other communities not included in the first issue. Some of the callers began by questioning my sanity (I'm used to it) but I was able to recover by explaining we hadn't forgotten their towns, we just couldn't get it all into one single paper.

I wasn't able to reach one of the callers, though. He snarled, "You people are unreal!" at my voicemail but didn't leave a number to call him back. His community will be in the issue on Wednesday, by the way.

Coffee talk

If you're reading this column in Marion or the surrounding community, you might wish to spend 8 to 9 a.m. Wednesday talking to me and other members of the newspaper staff in a "Coffee and Conversation" meeting at Latta Java in downtown Marion.

We'll provide free coffee and pastries, and then tell you more about our newspaper, Web site and other publications. Then we'll listen to you. We hope you'll give us more information about what we're doing well, what might be improved and what things we might either add or delete.

Earlier sessions in Carbondale and Murphysboro yielded some great ideas, identified a communication problem and offered better explanations for getting information into The Southern Illinoisan. We expect the same results in Marion and at other "Coffee and Conversation" meetings we will hold across the region after Election Day and during 2009.

GARY METRO is the editor of The Southern Illinoisan. You can reach him at 351-5033 or gary.metro@thesouthern.com.