Northampton Press

As we approach the Nov. 6 general election, the Whitehall-Coplay Press, Northampton Press and the Catasauqua Press, in the interest of fairness, will halt the publication of columns by local government officials and letters to the editor submitted by those running for office.

The last week for publication of columns by local government officials was Oct. 11.

We will, of course, continue to cover the local races, in news stories generated by our own reporters.

A simple statement, but let's break it down a bit.

Your newspaper … That's right, all yours, assembled just for you, tailored to where you live, emphasizing the things that affect you, keeping track of the people and players in your community. Your newspaper is put together by people in a newsroom that was built for you, where people work to supply information that matters to you, from the details of that crash you passed by on Tuesday to biographies of the candidates for your school board to notices of what's on sale at your local supermarket.

As we approach the Nov. 6 general election, the Whitehall-Coplay Press, Northampton Press and the Catasauqua Press, in the interest of fairness, will halt the publication of columns by local government officials and letters to the editor submitted by those running for office.

The last week for publication of columns by local government officials is Oct. 11.

We will, of course, continue to cover the local races, in news stories generated by our own reporters.

As the classroom bell rang in the new school year last month, 55 million children across the United States headed back to school.

With 13 percent of those school children typically walking or biking to school, AAA warns drivers to be especially vigilant for pedestrians during before- and after-school hours.

The afternoon hours are particularly dangerous for walking children. Over the last decade, nearly one-third of child pedestrian fatalities occurred between the hours of 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.

This past Thursday, I turned on the car radio in time to catch a news broadcast about a house fire in Salisbury Township.

Volunteer firefighters from Eastern Salisbury, Western Salisbury, Fountain Hill, Se-Wy-Co and Emmaus fire departments were called out from the comfort of their homes to fight a 2 a.m. fire in the 1400 block of Lehigh Avenue.

Over the years of their volunteer service, these men and women have missed many family meals and important events because they needed to fight a fire or rescue someone from a lake, hiking trail or motor vehicle following an accident.

My birthday will be here soon. I will celebrate it by doing absolutely nothing.

I have jokingly dubbed my birthday "National Do Nothing Productive Day." It's not celebrated nationally but it should be. It's not that I think my birthday is worthy of becoming a holiday, but rather that I believe modern life has become overscheduled, making it necessary to actively seek time to do nothing.

When you wake up in the dead of night to the smell of smoke in the house; when you're in a vehicle accident and are trapped in the car or when you're in a flooded area and need rescuing, it's our local firefighters who risk their safety to ensure yours.