In response to the June 17 Hometown Forum topic on featuring an animal benefit, because they are “”not ordinary,” the editor has defended the paper’s policy not to attempt to cover the large number of family tragedies and their benefits.

Of interest was the paper’s sponsorship of several worthwhile organizations that operate nationally. As the paper knows (or should know), the University of North Carolina’s ibiblio.org project will host enterprise level sites for free, providing exemplary services to meet the needs of its clients. It only makes sense to suggest the paper explore options that might benefit the community, by sponsoring (won’t cost the paper a penny) a community effort to set up a site where residents can market their fundraisers and benefits for a worldwide audience.

If multimedia fundraisers and benefits online represent an archiving issue, that is easily solved for free as well, since, as the paper knows (or should know) The Internet Archive project provides free repository space in conjunction with the world-renown Great Library of Alexandria. Again, a win-win situation for everyone. All the paper needs to do, is bring its expertise to the community table, and sponsor discussions about what might work best for the paper and the community.

Tom Poe

Charles City, Iowa

Editor’s note: In fact, the Tribune already has brought its online presence to the table. People can post their events, such as cancer benefits, in the events calendar at AlbertLeaTribune.com. Once again, we want to say the Tribune indeed covers benefits for family tragedies but cannot possibly be expected to cover every single one. We do cover some, and we do cover many related issues and organizations. We also sponsor many fundraisers for those organizations, such as the American Cancer Society. And we often put in briefs telling people about them, such as one on Page 3 today. We also encourage people to read today’s editorial about fundraisers to pay medical bills.