By DAVID H. DONALDSON, JR.

Q: What is the law about kids delivering newspapers and where can I find it?

The start of this new year marks the beginning of my 26th year as editor of The Canadian Record. It also...not coincidentally...marks the 26th anniversary of my father’s death. 
I remember the long, sad drive back from the Oklahoma City hospital where he had been taken by ambulance the day before, and where he died the next morning during a surgeon’s futile Hail Mary attempt to save his worn-out heart. 

A U.S. Postal Service rate case was filed Oct. 10 for changes effective Jan. 27, 2019.
The inflationary cap allowed USPS was about 2.5 percent. Here are details, with charts of prices and percentage increases available online at http://www.texaspress.com/marketing-mail-saturation-shoppers-get-higher….

Q: Our city police department has a new employee working at the desk where I routinely go to get arrest reports and other public information. The employee, the police department’s officer for public information, is rejecting my requests for arrest reports. What can be done to improve this situation?

It’s no particular secret that The Canadian Record is a barely discernible blue spot in the red political sea of the Texas Panhandle. While I have never had, nor claimed, any party affiliation, my editorial writing has indelibly branded me as a (insert your choice of expletives) liberal (insert your choice of amplifying adjectives) Democrat to some, and a wild-eyed socialist flamethrower to others. 

A U.S. Postal Service rate case was filed Oct. 10 for changes effective Jan. 27, 2019.
The inflationary cap allowed USPS was about 2.5 percent. Here are details of the proposal. See the charts referenced here.
IN-COUNTY MAIL

Q: An incumbent officeholder is pressuring me to publish his paid political advertisement well past our press deadline. Also, the ad contains false or unsubstantiated allegations against his opponent. Am I required to publish the ad?

As journalists, we have always been aware of the power words have—even when carefully wielded—to provoke outrage and to incite sometimes violent response. But today there is a heightened awareness of the hazards we face, both in reporting the news and in commenting editorially on the issues of our time.

Q: A prominent member of the community submitted something labeled as a “news report” on a controversial local topic. He asked us to publish it in the news section of our next edition under his byline. It’s not straight reportage — obviously an opinion piece — it’s way too long and we’ve learned it is the work of a ghostwriter who lives in town. My tendency would be not to run it for the aforementioned reasons. Any thoughts?