Committed to readers

This Thanksgiving season, as always, I am most thankful for my faith, my precious family, and my friends. But I am also grateful to live in a free country, one in which we almost take for granted the freedom of speech and of the press.

John and I think that the Arkansas

Democrat-Gazette is one of the finest local newspapers in the United States. Its “Statement of Core Values” is more than words; it is a commitment to printing the news without bias and in-depth at the local, state, national and global level. The highlight of my morning at 5:30 each day is looking out my kitchen window for the headlights of the car of our faithful and prompt delivery man. Thank you for this great service to our doorstep.

We regret that changes in the economy and in the newspaper business beyond your control have necessitated that you downsize your staff yet again. But we rejoice that you are still publishing daily so that we can continue to keep up with local and state government through your reporters, that we can read national columnists like David Brooks and Bret Stephens, Arkansas columnists like Rex Nelson, Tom Dillard and John Brummett, and feature writers like Sharon Randall and Carolyn Hax. Your editorial page is more conservative than our views usually are, but there is no bias in reporting. On the lighter side, we both enjoy the weekly food section, the Voices page, history features, comics, and the High Profile section. We are grateful to you all, so keep up the fine work, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette publisher Walter Hussman and staff! PAT LILE Little Rock