Let’s now go to the phone lines

With daily newspapers, the editor’s voice mail often becomes like talk radio. I do listen to every message and read every personal email. Here are a few items of reader feedback (from voice mail or letters that were not intended for publication) that you might find interesting.

• “Les” from Penticton noted that Justin Trudeau is about to embark on a coffee shop tour of Canada where he will listen to the comments of average, every day Canadians. Les believes Mayor Andrew Jakubeit should do the same but here in Penticton.

• “P.B.”, a senior reader, complained that the winning lottery numbers are not always in the next day’s newspaper. For the record, the Okanagan Sunday receives the unofficial numbers from the source — the lottery corporations — and they often arrive well after our print deadline. In fact, one of our deskers said that the bigger the jackpot, the later the numbers come in. We too are annoyed, we like to publish the winning numbers because we understand many of our readers like to see them.

• “Shirley Ann” from Summerland, a champion of freedom of speech, thanked us for running so many letters to the editor. She went on to say that Joe Fries and I are not only the best journalists in the South Okanagan but “the two best journalists in Canada.” I’m not sure about that one but we certainly appreciate such kind words.

I’ve received questions about letters to the editor recently, the most common one being about regular writers. I will save this for a column next week.

Blueliner Gabe Bast must play at least five games with the Surrey Knights junior-B team before being eligible to return to the Penticton Vees. Their season record to date: 0-32-2. He will definitely help them.

I was going to dedicate this entire column to the brilliance of Meryl Streep but why bother. It’s like using the words “giraffe” and “tall” in the same sentence. It goes without saying.

I’m an old school Meryl Streep fan going back to the days of “The Deer Hunter” and “Kramer vs Kramer.” I was gravely disappointed when I read in her most recent biography that Dustin Hoffman was a jerk during the filming of “Kramer vs Kramer.”

Mery Streep never gives a bad performance. She’s never been in a lousy movie (mediocre, yes, lousy, no.) Her speech at the Golden Globes was priceless, especially the part about the need for journalists, now, more than ever.

Trivia: Meryl Streep wasn’t the original choice to play JoAnna Kramer in “Kramer vs Kramer,” it was Kate Jackson from “Charlie’s Angels.” Streep was originally penciled in for the small part of Ted’s one-night stand which later went to JoBeth Williams (who later starred in “Poltergeist.”) Jackson was unable to get time off from “Charlie’s Angels” due to a contractual agreement. Film history could have been totally different had that happened.

If there’s a more hapless sports franchise than the Detroit Lions, please let me know what it is. James Miller is managing editor of The Herald.