Let’s put this paper to bed, Girls and Boys. So what if the front page isn’t exactly perfect. No one but a blonde blogger with way too much time on her hands will notice anyway…

Living in a small town has its perks.
  1. It’s easy to decide where to go out to eat because yours choices are so limited…clear: 4 Italian/American restaurants, 4 Chinese buffets/take-outs, 3 highfalutin’ pricey places, 4 family style carb-loading joints, 4 hot-dog stands, 1 Greek diner, 1 Mexican Casa, 1 Thai restaurant, and 15 drive-thru-choke-as-you-go options.  I’m not counting the bars where you can order food with your new tattoo and future hangover.  There are plenty of those places.
  2. The crime rate is very low, unless you consider lack of culture a crime.
  3. Nature is all around you…buzzing around your face, eating your flowers, rummaging through your trash, and leaping out in front of your moving vehicle.
  4. People act as if they know you, even if they don’t.  It’s just the neighborly thing to do–at least people in my neighborhood act like they know me…especially the men.

    I try to look my best when I answer my door and while walking Scrappy. I just don’t get why all the men in my neighborhood are so friendly and the women are watching their men so closely.

  5. If you see people who need help, you worry about them as you pass by them.  You wonder if they’ll be okay.  Again, it’s the neighborly thing to do.  People in big cities aren’t that considerate.
  6. Shopping is a breeze.  You don’t have to ponder the many places you will have to go to find what you’re looking for.  You won’t find what you want within a 50-mile radius, so shopping  is really simple.  But you have to know that the “World Wide Web” has more than just porn on it and you must have access to it, which is iffy especially if your electrical service is home to a raccoon.

    Hey, I noticed something wonky with your cable wires while I was up here. Your reception should be much better now. You’re welcome.

  7. And the local newspaper is more about keeping people entertained than it is about keeping people informed.

But maybe it’s just our local newspaper and maybe it’s just me who finds it amusing. (I knew I’d get to the title of this post eventually.)

Our local paper has a habit of running headlines and placing random pictures close enough to the headline to make it look like the picture belongs with the headline.  Sometimes the combination is outlandish and makes me ask aloud, “Was the Editor drinking again?”  Let me just share with you two recent examples.  I blotted out any identifying names to protect the guilty.

Obviously the two districts haven’t settled all of their issues yet. But it looks like the Smokin’ Blue Sabers are going to get their way by cutting more than just costs from the Not-So-Fighting Reds.

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And you thought paying extra for your bags and enhanced security measures where over the top. Now it seems the new trend in air fare is self-propulsion. Hey, fuel prices aren’t going down–but unless my arms get stronger, I may be canceling my vacation plans.

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And the number of kittens needing homes have increased as well. Coincidence? I think not! It’s the innocent-looking ones you have to watch out for, People. That little kitty will bring a lot more to your family than purrs and hair balls.

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The only things I did to these photos of the actual newspapers was to crop out the name of the newspaper and blotch out names of places or reporters that anyone without super-vision could read.  I swear I didn’t put these pictures next to these headlines. The editors of the paper did that all by themselves.

Do you have any examples of journalism gaffes from your local newspaper?