Tribune 1st edition...First Impressions: an indicator of future performance?

What did Lake Worth do to deserve the unveiling of a new print newspaper? Initial reviews are coming in and it looks like the grade is a solid "E" for Effort. Last week, if told you a 'professional journalist' and an 'experienced editor' created a brand new "print" newspaper with a crime blotter in our little City, you likely would have laughed at the possibility. We all know how robust an industry print newspapers are in this day and age. Newspapers simply don't print themselves. Where is the money coming to fund this venture?

Let's take a look at the quality of reporting of just one section contained in the first edition, the Crime blotter. What if I told you THREE of the crimes didn't happen in our little City at all, but somewhere else? Some were reported without the scantest of details; others were given a full blown account. There were three that were purported to be in the city of Lake Worth, which is the focus of the paper, but three were actually not in the city.

Margaret Menge has brought her bag of journalistic talents to Lake Worth, and we saw this "free" paper handed out by this professional journalist and experienced editor's First Edition, The Lake Worth Tribune yesterday at the Lake Worth Tree Festival (sponsored by The Lake Worth Herald ).

Here are reporter/editor's three errors in her "Lake Worth CRIME BLOTTER" alone:

- Theft in John Prince Park (John Prince Park is not in Lake Worth)

- Burglary on the 1400 block of Crest Drive (Crest Drive is in unincorporated Palm Beach County [PBC])

- Robbery on the 2400 block of 10th Ave North (again, this location is in unincorporated PBC)

But there is another crime reported where Margaret Menge shows off her creative writing skills about a Shooting! in Lake Worth. Here is Ms. Menge's description:

"A woman living on the 800 block of Washington Avenue found what appeared to be a bullet impression [emphasis added] in the driver's side door of her 2000 silver Mercedes. The car had been parked in front of the garage."

So much for the dramatic shooting in Lake Worth on Monday, January 12th. Further investigation would likely reveal that the impression referred was actually a "door ding." Even if it was a bullet hole, not an impression, I don't believe most native journalists would casually refer to that as a "shooting." Such language should be left to describe injury to sentient beings. More detail is needed.

If the first edition of Margaret Menge's newspaper is this cavalier, what can we expect next week? Stay tuned and print away! Perhaps where the money coming to fund this venture will be revealed in future editions. People in Lake Worth appreciate transparency.