After five years and two days, I have decided to retire The Weekly Freeporter from publication. I know this may come as a surprise to my readers, and I believe an accounting for this decision is due to you, but it's a decision I've weighed for some time, and one I've had driven home in the last six months.
The Weekly Freeporter Retires
In November I wrote a review of a shall-remain-nameless Italian restaurant, as that article had to be taken down. I had expected that my distaste in its food and service would be met with a great deal of vitriol to match; I'm no stranger to insults on my facebook wall. I did not expect to receive more than one insult-laden phone call to my home, however. Undue attacks were hurled at those I love. I won't get into the personal details of what these calls meant, but it left an impression.
I know I've lost friends over Freeport politics, before. I know I've had people call my integrity into question, claiming I was a shill for the campaign against Andrew Hardwick. If I was, I would most certainly be sitting pretty at Village Hall instead of looking for a complete career overhaul. But phone calls to my home over one article? Well, just the other night I got a public dressing-down over another, this time from someone I considered a friend.
It's not worth it, anymore.
This has been a difficult decision to make, and I have a lot of mixed up feelings over it. I've always cherished my readership, probably more than it's worth cherishing it. Maybe I'd hoped that someone would speak up and acknowledge that TWF has existed for five years, yet nobody did. I suppose that's selfish, but that's about as honest as I'm going to get.
Before I finish this article, I would like to encourage you all to vote on the school budget as well as to vote for school board Trustee on the Tuesday, May 19th.
With that said, I am officially retired. I will keep this article, all previous articles, and my facebook pages up for at least a few more days before I decide whether to take them down. Thank you for everything! It was quite the ride.
