Dear Editor:

I would like to commend Monett Monthly for your excellent article, “Proposed legislation strikes fear in Monett residents,” in the February issue. 

I have lived in the Monett area for over three years and it is far and away the best article I have ever read in the various iterations of the Monett newspaper. The article was highly relevant, well researched and reported, and included helpful context and insight from community members.

I have been disappointed in previous years by the lack of coverage of Latino, immigrant, and other “minority” populations in the area, especially considering that they comprise a sizable part of Monett and surrounding areas. Seeing this story — and on the front page, above the fold — was good journalism. Thank you!

My mother was a newspaper journalist in Kansas for more than 60 years. She wrote a near-daily column for The Garden City Telegram for much of that time and also worked as a reporter. She wrote many articles about Garden City’s large foreign-born population, including for La Semana, a weekly bilingual newspaper that the Telegram published for several years. 

She never considered herself to have the “minority” beat; rather, she said, “It’s just part of covering the community.” 

I grew up around the staff and office of the Telegram and have deep appreciation for small-town newspapers. I am so glad the Monett paper is locally owned again; the demise of locally owned newspapers is dismaying and dangerous.

Thank you to Sheila Harris and Kyle Troutman for your good and important work!

Megan Hope

Pierce City