To the Editor:

Wednesday morning’s dismal Tidewater News headlines regarding the closing of the sawmill after nearly 175 years was also carried in the daily paper from the state capital.

I could not find it mentioned in the major daily of local circulation. Our floods were covered in that paper, and there was recently a sophomoric, poorly researched and shallow feature article about paper mill odor.

Otherwise, the land west of downtown Suffolk is a wilderness to be ignored. There are some excellent writers in Norfolk, survivors of various lay-offs and threats to sell, but they don’t come to our community.

As we here move toward recovery, and certainly we will, we need all the help we can get.

A major element will be our vigorous local newspaper covering southern Isle of Wight, Southampton, and Franklin. We will all do well to support The Tidewater News (and the paper’s advertisers).

It is the only news media friend we have.

Joe Stutts

Franklin