New life for Judge Parker, Flying McCoys, Scrabblegrams and Word Warp

  Last week I told you we were changing The Augusta Chronicle’s lineup of  comics and puzzles. I asked for your comments, and you gave them. Many of you responded, some with great passion. As a result we’re keeping some of the features we had planned to drop.

In particular, Judge Parker, Scrabblegrams and Word Warp have been spared. We’re still working out the details of what will go where, but for next week, the comics page will continue with its same lineup.

Because of some other changes we made to keep the bridge column, three features (Scrabblegrams, Word Warp and Flying McCoys) will not be in their customary place on the weather page next week. As soon as we figure out where to put things, they will be back.  

Because of how much our readers seem to like working puzzles, we want to add even more puzzles. If you have a favorite or two that we don’t publish now, send me a note, an email or a phone call about what you would like to see. We’ll try to get the new lineup set within a couple of weeks. 

Our TV Week section has moved to Saturday this week and will be delivered only to subscribers who request it. If you forgot to ask for the section, you can still get it next week if you call (706) 722-5620 or toll-free at (866) 249-8223.  If you didn’t get a TV Week and want to find out what’s on tonight, our expanded prime time grid is in the Your Life section. We have added seven channels to the grid: Lifetime Movie Network (movies for women), ESPNC (racing and other sports), BBC America, G4 (gaming and video gaming programming), Game Show Network, Noggin (children’s programming from Nickelodeon and Children’s Television Workshop) and Trinity Broadcasting Network (religious programming). There are 24-hour grids on our website, as always. 

I’m glad our readers care enough about our content to call and write. As I’ve said many times the readers are the reason we have a website and publish a printed newspaper. Without them, our work is meaningless. So our goal every day is to publish information that is essential to your lives. Because our readers are so diverse we try to publish different items that appeal to large blocs of people. To do that effectively, we need to hear from you. 

I heard from many of you last week. I had several pleasant conversations with readers who called. One delightful woman asked that we keep Scrabblegrams because she and her 91-year-old neighbor race to see who will finish it first every day. Others who called also had friendly advice about what they could do without if we could just keep a certain comic or a particular puzzle. 

The only ugly comments came from email and snail mail. Most of them were polite, but a few writers felt compelled to rip into The Chronicle, my brain power and even our editorial page (which I do not control). Maybe there is something about putting pen to paper or composing electronic messages that brings out the beast.  

Editing a newspaper is fun for many reasons, not the least of which is the fact that every reader is convinced he or she could do it better. That’s why I like to hear from you. I can learn about what you want in your newspaper. I know we can’t please everybody every day. But we do try to find that sweet spot where more and more of you enjoy reading what we do online and in print.