Column brings letters reflecting on commentary By JIM SCHUH of The Gazette You may find this difficult to believe, but sometimes I get letters from people who actually read this column. Until the first response arrived, I didn't know anybody used precious time to amble through the stuff I crank out. I just thought my efforts were a way to fill up part of a page that The Gazette ad folks couldn't sell. Part one of two A while back, I mentioned that retired UW-SP Professor Imogene De Smet had helped me one day long ago with a grammar problem. Turns out she read the column, and wrote to thank me for thanking her for the "English mini-lesson." You're welcome, Imogene. She added that she was glad to help out. Professor De Smet, who now lives in Sioux City, Iowa, says she enjoys reading The Gazette to keep up on what's happening around here. She has a fondness for Stevens Point, and wrote that "Point seems to have more going for it than does Sioux City, which has never quite gotten over being the hog capital of the Central Plains." Ms. De Smet also included an article on toilets - she had read my column about toilets in New Zealand that also mentioned new American toilets that try to save water don't always work very well. The article she sent also said we shouldn't expect our federal government to relent on its mandate that all new toilets be limited to flushes of 1.6 gallons (vs. 3.5 gallons for the old ones) very soon. Dean Krenz, the former publisher of the Sioux City Journal, wrote, "If there is any hope for (legislative) relief, it lives far into the future after taxes, Social Security, Medicare, military pay and cigarette labeling are settled. In the meantime, double flush without a feeling of guilt if you have to." (Recently, I talked to some local plumbing people who say the makers of new water-saving toilets have re-engineered the WCs, and they now work much better.) * * * Dan Schobert e-mails me occasionally. We worked together in the radio newsroom many years ago. Responding to my comments about unproductive government meetings, Dan says he's found that holding early morning meetings forces productivity, because members have to get to work at their regular jobs. He noted that one group he was involved with met at 6 a.m. He also was a member of a church group that had a rule saying no meeting could last more than 90 minutes. Dan says that helped to move things along quickly. Dan adds, "Like you mentioned, many people on boards seem to think that they must say something when, in fact, their comments add little to the discussion, just more noise." I shouldn't say this publicly, but if local governments want to escape the watchful eye of the press, their best bet is to hold 6 a.m. meetings, because no journalist I know is willing to get up at that hour to cover the proceedings. Most government officials wouldn't know what they're doing at 6 a.m. either, so there'd be much less temptation for them to cause public grief. * * * Don't look for much hard-hitting journalism from at least one area TV station. Dan sent me the response from a Wausau TV news director to his complaint about the quality of news stories, and suggesting the station do some investigative reporting. But the news official wrote back, saying that he doesn't have the resources to initiate investigations without a suggestion of wrongdoing. As one of his station's accomplishments, the news director cited a story from last summer involving a "constable" killing two dogs apparently for no good reason. Investigative journalism? * * * Back to the subject of toilets. Sometimes one's own words come back to them. In broadcasting, people can accuse you of saying something on the air, and you can deny it - and claim they must have heard wrong - unless they can produce an audiotape. But in print journalism, it's impossible to deny your words, because they're captured physically on a page - in black and white. Recently, my words came back to me in an unusual way. Men may recall seeing newspaper pages posted on the wall above urinals in restaurant men's rooms, to give them something to do while taking care of necessities. I stopped by the men's room at the Stevens Point Country Club after a lunch meeting, and found that right above the urinals on a big corkboard, someone had cut out and pinned up one of my columns - the one that dealt with the ways people respond to a "thank you" these days. It just struck me funny - to see my work in a place I never suspected it would be - with a captive audience at that, even if it were just for a minute or so. But I'm quite sure there are some people who think it would be more appropriate for my ramblings to wind up on rolls in the stalls. You may reach Jim Schuh at The Gazette, or by e-mail at jpschuh@excite.com.