FNP 51 Page 23 people. Basically, we need to be, kind of, a half-breed dog, between a bloodhound that can sniff out wrongdoings in government, and then a bulldog, with an attitude that would be just about like a brain-dead bulldog with lockjaw: hang in there until we get that story and we expose what's out there. P: Who determined the letters to the editor? How did you choose which ones were in there, and were there some you would not print? G: Yes, sir. All the letters to the editor back then came through my hands, to me, unless it was something that was just so simplistic it was childlike. It was, I'd like to thank the ladies of the church for the fine job they did during my daddy's death, or something. But, if it had any type controversy about it at all, I wanted to read it. P: Did you try to balance your editorials with the letters, so if you took one position, you would print letters representing the other position? G: Yes, sir. I never answered but one letter to the editor in the same edition, and that came from a feller in Madison [who] was going to the University of Florida down there and wrote me a letter to the editor and says, I guess you must be an FSU [Florida State University] fan, being that you live so close to FSU. I wrote under and I says, Gene, I'm going to take exception to my policy and I'm going to answer this letter [in the same edition], and that is, that when FSU and Florida play one another, I hope they both get beat because neither school let me in. That's the only letter I've ever answered, in the same edition. I'd answer in the following [edition], and that does two things. That gives the writer, the author of that letter, the one that's ticked off or whatever the case may be, that sees a different view than I do, gives him an opportunity to express himself without a rebuttal. It gives me an opportunity to come back, and when you get in this type [of] tennis match, then you build readership. You know, what are they going to say next? P: When you published a letter, did it have to be signed, and did you check on the content to some degree? There might be letters libeling public officials. G: We stretched the reliability to the extent when it came to public officials. You know, I wasn't that concerned about it. Just gossip, we didn't do. We tried if we felt like it was the truth and it was this man's or woman's personal opinion, if in their heart, they believed what they were saying was true. But, as far as just coming out here and saying that, oh, I'm sick and tired of Joe Blow running around with Mary Smith, that didn't get in this paper. P: But they did have to sign it? G: In the beginning, they had to sign it. Now, occasionally, we run letters. Emerald has got it set up so that if they send in stuff that's not signed, then they give her their name so that