The Grand Dame of Blogs, The Newburyport Blog, has re-opened for business.
It’s been lonely out here in blogger land when it comes to consistent posts about local issues. We’ve had to depend on an occasional post by a local realtor, and a few city councilors. A small handful – Ari Herzog, P. P. & Tom Salemi are often the only ones kicking out consistent information about what matters in Newburyport.
Without it, we would all have to depend on the Daily News and their bad habit of apportioning out local events. (And leaving out so much.) Sometimes I feel like we’re being treated as a baby getting a spoonful at a time only to find out its strained beets!
Yes, this is Thee Newburyport Blog! Much like, The Asbestos, The Undertoad and the Liberator; Mary Eaton reigned supreme for a short time on talking about the cutting edge news about our City.
It was she that sparked the fire that eventually lead to the establishment by Linda Miller of the Newburyport Preservation Trust.
It was she that successfully led the movement to save High Street. Yes, the state wanted to pour money into Newburyport (of which the dark siders were eager to grab) as long as we turned our beloved corridor into something that looked like Route One in Seabrook. Can you imagine, rushing cars whizzing by while beleaguered and deteriorating Federal mansions peered over Jersey barriers? It would never have been part of the new National Heritage Scenic Coastal Byway or the Historic Byway it now is today.
It was determined back in the days of the popularity of blogs that the citizen writers would not be given the same protection that the Fourth Estate is granted. Basically, it has left so many news contributors exposed to frivolous lawsuits with the express intent of SHUTTING UP FREE SPEECH.
Today, bloggers have to be careful and follow strict guidelines while yellow journalists with a college degree and credentials get scot free from harassment. But being a pioneer, Ms. Eaton wasn’t so lucky and she was sued. If Bossy Gillis was alive today, his bulldog with the spike collar would have been fixed a long time ago! Alas, The Undertoad suffered the same fate.
During Reagan’s Era, the left tried to stop and isolate the emerging conservative movement with lawsuits. (Of which most all were dismissed.) But it cost money and the intent was to discredit and shut up FREE SPEECH. Those locally, who like most of the citizens being in the dark, have also pursued any way possible to SHUT UP THE NEWS.
Thankfully, they have largely lost their efforts.
All I can say is, “WELCOME BACK, MARY. WE NEED YOU!”
-P. Preservationist
www.ppreservationist.com
Hopefully, Weird Al won’t sue me!
P. Preservationist 