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Read "CAWTHON'S CATHARSIS - All That I Seek for My Free Lunch Is For You to Send Money" - Columns
By Jack Cawthon
Barbecuerun@aol.com
If you watch public television you may have observed the sometimes tedious "pledge break." By this method, public TV pays for much of its programming, otherwise my favorite show, Nova, might go missing. On the other hand, commercial TV has sponsors, and that is what pays for my second best, or maybe really, really best, Desperate Housewives. I haven't a clue as to who the sponsors are, but to prove my attention is not unfocused, I can describe the leading characters in minute detail.
So, if you dance you gotta pay the piper, as we often say in the hills. And that brings us to our destination after winding around a few hills and hollers: The Hur Herald doesn't have pledge breaks or sponsors, but you can consider it the excellent piper, always attuned. Money is required to keep it piping, and from what is implied by the little items that are casually inserted, but don't go on and on so as to interrupt the music-- you can even skip the pleas, should you not have a conscious-- things aren't very rosy this year as the readers dance around the kettle.
You might assume that I'm acting unselfishly and nobly by asking you to support a worthy cause such as the Herald. Let me assure you that is not the case. As in most of my good cause efforts, I am acting as selfishly as one can with a vested interest, especially one who usually votes Republican. The very reason that I want to see the Herald survive is not for its excellent news coverage that can even scoop print dailies, the renderings from history that you can't find anywhere else, and the wizened wisdom of Bob Weaver's observations, not to mention the outstanding columnists. No, it's much more selfish than that; I don't want to become an unemployed columnist ever again.
I have a tendency to go down with the ship. It happened with the West Virginia Hillbilly. Of course, Jim Comstock, its founder, did the unforgivable and unthinkable for the many, many close followers of his beacon publication: he died. And with Comstock out of picture, Hillbilly went into its own fatal coma from poor circulation and lack of health benefits....
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