http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/soundoff/35555 Reader: Messing with the comics again. You are using old survey results to elimi- nate comics that are miles ahead of some of the newer ones. Sherman’s Lagoon in really funny on almost a daily basis. Marvin is so-so, and can be at least cute. Mutts and Brewster Rockit aren’t even worth a chuckle.  How about a new survey before you do some- thing so drastic? — Mindi  Pugh Reader:I can understand your wanting to go to a more up-to-date format. Saving paper is a good idea as it saves trees. What I want saved is “Sherman’s Lagoon.” I hope my letter and oth- ers I am sure you receive will change your decision. Sharks Rule!  —Phillip Anderson Reader: Really disap- pointed with the paper. The smaller size? Not good, awful actually. You say “oth- ers” use this format? I have not seen it. You get rid of Sherman’s Lagoon and leave idiotic comics like “Mutts.” You have not taken a comics poll in a very long time. It would have been nice if you had done one. I have been a subscriber for over 40 years, unfortu- nately that is about to change, too. I hate to do it, because I enjoyed the paper. Sorry to see you go, but I have a feeling I am not the only one jumping ship. Too bad, but you have not lis- tened to your subscribers in the past, why start now? —Neal Janzen Reader: You have spent two articles saying how GREAT your new format is, and you tell us how GREAT we will think it is “once readers become accus- tomed to the new format.” Please be advised that you do not speak for us.  Concerning the NEW TYPE, you do not tell the truth when you state you “didn’t make it smaller.” “Utopia” is much smaller and almost impossible to read. You have taken out our favorite cartoon, Sherman’s Lagoon, to save space for useless stuff. The comics are still the best part of this paper — add another skin- ny page for them. —Brown Higginbotham Reader:I wanted to com- plain about eliminating Sherman’s Lagoon. Here are some you can get rid of that are a lot worse: Retail, Brewster Rocket, Red & Rover, Fred Bassett, Mutts and Pickles. —Adam Jones Reader: I just wanted to say that I am very pleased with what you’ve done with the paper. The smaller pages are easier to handle. I am visu- ally impaired, but the print is good and you’ve brought daytime TVback, all of our comics are back and all of the editorials. I love the pictures, espe- cially Casey Christie’s. I really think this is great. Thank you for the paper. I’m a 35-year subscriber. —Edie Lyons Reader:I take your paper but I don’t like your little mini paper. If you’re trying to save some money why don’t you just charge more for the damn paper. Give me back what I can see. —Ray Moore Reader:I’d like to tell you that your TVGuide is not readable. You have to use a magnifying glass. I would appreciate it if you could do something for all of us. —Sally Morrison Reader: I just wanted to tell you that I’ve been tak- ing your paper for more than 70 years and I really enjoyed Sherman’s Lagoon and Marvin. I’m very disap- pointed that you cut them. Also, the crossword puz- zle should be moved up higher on the page — above the fold. It is very dif- ficult to do with the fold in the middle of it. —Mrs.Stull Reader: On the Weather section of your paper Tues- day, you had Salem, Ore- gon, listed twice, but you left off Seattle, Washington, which has been on there previously. I feel Washing- ton should have a little clout since you didn’t list any town in the state of Washington. — Betty Shaffer Reader: Is there any rea- son you couldn’t use a one point smaller font for the Horoscope so there would be room for the whole “Ask Heloise” column? I looked at last week’s papers and it seems like one point small- er would be the same as we were used to before.  By the way, I too, am one who has saved the Sunday Mini Page for grandkids. I am glad you are at least keeping it, even though you had to change the format, so we have the whole con- tent. I do disagree with the writer to Sound Off about the smaller print. I find kids can read smaller print much easier than those of us who are older!! — Bobbie Hulson Reader: Thank you, thank you for making the newspaper smaller and yet giving us everything like before. It’s so much easier to read now when I sit near the pool in the morning. I applaud you for taking this step.  — Mardi Hinse, sub- scriber for over 30 years. Reader: I just wanted to call and thank Jenner, I guess, for putting the TV Guide back in. I didn’t like him for quite a while, but now I’m back loving him again. I’m very happy now. Thank you. —Rita Barlow Reader:I’m just calling to say I do not like the new format of your newspaper nor does my husband. We don’t like it. It’s too small. The print’s too small. It’s hard to read. We’d be will- ing to pay more for a news- paper that you can read. I hope a lot of other peo- ple are making the same complaint. We’ll pay more money for a newspaper like you had before this stupid thing that somebody came up with. Even though you say it’s keeping cost down, oh well, everything else is going up. Why not the newspaper, too? — Ms.Gonzales Reader: I definitely do not like the smaller-sized newspaper. It no longer fits properly in the bottom of the rabbit’s cage. I have to use two sections now! —Frank Valente Reader:I’m calling about your new format for the TV listings. You left out Speed Channel. I want to get an answer for that. Thank you very much. —Art Bagnall Jenner: We know we’re playing with fire when we mess with the comics. When we decided we needed to drop two comics we dropped “Sherman’s Lagoon” and “Marvin” because reader feedback in the past suggested their fol- lowings weren’t that strong. We’ve received next to no complaints about losing “Marvin”; less than two dozen about “Sherman’s Lagoon.” In the meantime, readers should note that while we cancelled the daily strip, it still appears in Sunday’s comics. As for the size of our news body type, we did not shrink it. We did change the font to Utopia, which we feel is more readable. We also did not reduce the size of our classified type, although we did reduce the spacing between classified ads. We’ve asked the compa- ny that produces our TV data to increase the size of the type on that page. Readers should see the larger type size appear by month’s end. And we’ll get the Speed channel back in the listings. The listing of national cities contained a couple of errors on the day we intro- duced our new Weather Page, those have been fixed and cities like Seattle are once again in the list. Finally, we moved the daily crossword back to the top of the puzzle page. Thanks to all those read- ers who shared their opin- ions about our new format. Reader: Thursday morn- ing I ate breakfast without the usual Bakersfield Cali- fornianas part of the decor. I am over 90 years old and live in a wheelchair; there- fore, my useful activities are rather limited so the newspaper consumes much of my time in the morning. The comics section livens up my day with Dagwood’s dawdling, Luann’s naivete, Beetle’s composure and Fred Bassett’s rationaliza- tions. The word games and puzzles have a way of keep- ing my brain functioning. I could call The Californ- ianand be obnoxious but some glitch happens about every three years which cal- culates out to be better than 99.9 percent perfect! With that record, who am I to “cast stones?” We don’t appreciate some things until they are not there anymore, but this is only temporarily tempo- rary; be thankful! —Harvey Brockmeyer Jenner: That’s the nicest complaint we’ve received in a while. A glitch in the software we use to produce plates prevented us from starting our presses at the normal time Wednesday night. We usually are running the presses shortly after mid- night and have all the papers in the city delivered by 5 a.m. on weekdays. Thursday’s press run didn’t begin till after 5. The prob- lem has now been fixed. We received thousands of calls from subscribers won- dering where their papers were — so many they took down our switchboard. I apologize for the incon- venience to our readers. It’s impressive how many peo- ple count on us to help them start their day. Reader: The front page headline of Tuesday’s paper was really inappropriate. The article features a photo of a woman clearly devas- tated at the loss of her child, a casualty of the war between Georgia and Rus- sia. Your “Empire Strikes Back” headline seems flip and unbelievably unfeel- ing.  Shame on you! —Paula Ransom Jenner: Editors who wrote that headline were referring to the “Evil Empire”label given to Rus- sia by the late President Reagan. They didn’t mean to be flip. However, the headline was subject to several inter- pretations, and I think we should’ve played it straight. It’s much more impor- tant to be clear than to be clever.   Reader: Messing with the comics again. You are using old survey results to elimi- nate comics that are miles ahead of some of the newer ones. Sherman’s Lagoon in really funny on almost a daily basis. Marvin is so-so, and can be at least cute. Mutts and Brewster Rockit aren’t even worth a chuckle.  How about a new survey before you do some- thing so drastic? — Mindi  Pugh Reader:I can understand your wanting to go to a more up-to-date format. Saving paper is a good idea as it saves trees. What I want saved is “Sherman’s Lagoon.” I hope my letter and oth- ers I am sure you receive will change your decision. Sharks Rule!  —Phillip Anderson Reader: Really disap- pointed with the paper. The smaller size? Not good, awful actually. You say “oth- ers” use this format? I have not seen it. You get rid of Sherman’s Lagoon and leave idiotic comics like “Mutts.” You have not taken a comics poll in a very long time. It would have been nice if you had done one. I have been a subscriber for over 40 years, unfortu- nately that is about to change, too. I hate to do it, because I enjoyed the paper. Sorry to see you go, but I have a feeling I am not the only one jumping ship. Too bad, but you have not lis- tened to your subscribers in the past, why start now? —Neal Janzen Reader: You have spent two articles saying how GREAT your new format is, and you tell us how GREAT we will think it is “once readers become accus- tomed to the new format.” Please be advised that you do not speak for us.  Concerning the NEW TYPE, you do not tell the truth when you state you “didn’t make it smaller.” “Utopia” is much smaller and almost impossible to read. You have taken out our favorite cartoon, Sherman’s Lagoon, to save space for useless stuff. The comics are still the best part of this paper — add another skin- ny page for them. —Brown Higginbotham Reader:I wanted to com- plain about eliminating Sherman’s Lagoon. Here are some you can get rid of that are a lot worse: Retail, Brewster Rocket, Red & Rover, Fred Bassett, Mutts and Pickles. —Adam Jones Reader: I just wanted to say that I am very pleased with what you’ve done with the paper. The smaller pages are easier to handle. I am visu- ally impaired, but the print is good and you’ve brought daytime TVback, all of our comics are back and all of the editorials. I love the pictures, espe- cially Casey Christie’s. I really think this is great. Thank you for the paper. I’m a 35-year subscriber. —Edie Lyons Reader:I take your paper but I don’t like your little mini paper. If you’re trying to save some money why don’t you just charge more for the damn paper. Give me back what I can see. —Ray Moore Reader:I’d like to tell you that your TVGuide is not readable. You have to use a magnifying glass. I would appreciate it if you could do something for all of us. —Sally Morrison Reader: I just wanted to tell you that I’ve been tak- ing your paper for more than 70 years and I really enjoyed Sherman’s Lagoon and Marvin. I’m very disap- pointed that you cut them. Also, the crossword puz- zle should be moved up higher on the page — above the fold. It is very dif- ficult to do with the fold in the middle of it. —Mrs.Stull Reader: On the Weather section of your paper Tues- day, you had Salem, Ore- gon, listed twice, but you left off Seattle, Washington, which has been on there previously. I feel Washing- ton should have a little clout since you didn’t list any town in the state of Washington. — Betty Shaffer Reader: Is there any rea- son you couldn’t use a one point smaller font for the Horoscope so there would be room for the whole “Ask Heloise” column? I looked at last week’s papers and it seems like one point small- er would be the same as we were used to before.  By the way, I too, am one who has saved the Sunday Mini Page for grandkids. I am glad you are at least keeping it, even though you had to change the format, so we have the whole con- tent. I do disagree with the writer to Sound Off about the smaller print. I find kids can read smaller print much easier than those of us who are older!! — Bobbie Hulson Reader: Thank you, thank you for making the newspaper smaller and yet giving us everything like before. It’s so much easier to read now when I sit near the pool in the morning. I applaud you for taking this step.  — Mardi Hinse, sub- scriber for over 30 years. Reader: I just wanted to call and thank Jenner, I guess, for putting the TV Guide back in. I didn’t like him for quite a while, but now I’m back loving him again. I’m very happy now. Thank you. —Rita Barlow Reader:I’m just calling to say I do not like the new format of your newspaper nor does my husband. We don’t like it. It’s too small. The print’s too small. It’s hard to read. We’d be will- ing to pay more for a news- paper that you can read. I hope a lot of other peo- ple are making the same complaint. We’ll pay more money for a newspaper like you had before this stupid thing that somebody came up with. Even though you say it’s keeping cost down, oh well, everything else is going up. Why not the newspaper, too? — Ms.Gonzales Reader: I definitely do not like the smaller-sized newspaper. It no longer fits properly in the bottom of the rabbit’s cage. I have to use two sections now! —Frank Valente Reader:I’m calling about your new format for the TV listings. You left out Speed Channel. I want to get an answer for that. Thank you very much. —Art Bagnall Jenner: We know we’re playing with fire when we mess with the comics. When we decided we needed to drop two comics we dropped “Sherman’s Lagoon” and “Marvin” because reader feedback in the past suggested their fol- lowings weren’t that strong. We’ve received next to no complaints about losing “Marvin”; less than two dozen about “Sherman’s Lagoon.” In the meantime, readers should note that while we cancelled the daily strip, it still appears in Sunday’s comics. As for the size of our news body type, we did not shrink it. We did change the font to Utopia, which we feel is more readable. We also did not reduce the size of our classified type, although we did reduce the spacing between classified ads. We’ve asked the compa- ny that produces our TV data to increase the size of the type on that page. Readers should see the larger type size appear by month’s end. And we’ll get the Speed channel back in the listings. The listing of national cities contained a couple of errors on the day we intro- duced our new Weather Page, those have been fixed and cities like Seattle are once again in the list. Finally, we moved the daily crossword back to the top of the puzzle page. Thanks to all those read- ers who shared their opin- ions about our new format. Reader: Thursday morn- ing I ate breakfast without the usual Bakersfield Cali- fornianas part of the decor. I am over 90 years old and live in a wheelchair; there- fore, my useful activities are rather limited so the newspaper consumes much of my time in the morning. The comics section livens up my day with Dagwood’s dawdling, Luann’s naivete, Beetle’s composure and Fred Bassett’s rationaliza- tions. The word games and puzzles have a way of keep- ing my brain functioning. I could call The Californ- ianand be obnoxious but some glitch happens about every three years which cal- culates out to be better than 99.9 percent perfect! With that record, who am I to “cast stones?” We don’t appreciate some things until they are not there anymore, but this is only temporarily tempo- rary; be thankful! —Harvey Brockmeyer Jenner: That’s the nicest complaint we’ve received in a while. A glitch in the software we use to produce plates prevented us from starting our presses at the normal time Wednesday night. We usually are running the presses shortly after mid- night and have all the papers in the city delivered by 5 a.m. on weekdays. Thursday’s press run didn’t begin till after 5. The prob- lem has now been fixed. We received thousands of calls from subscribers won- dering where their papers were — so many they took down our switchboard. I apologize for the incon- venience to our readers. It’s impressive how many peo- ple count on us to help them start their day. Reader: The front page headline of Tuesday’s paper was really inappropriate. The article features a photo of a woman clearly devas- tated at the loss of her child, a casualty of the war between Georgia and Rus- sia. Your “Empire Strikes Back” headline seems flip and unbelievably unfeel- ing.  Shame on you! —Paula Ransom Jenner: Editors who wrote that headline were referring to the “Evil Empire”label given to Rus- sia by the late President Reagan. They didn’t mean to be flip. However, the headline was subject to several inter- pretations, and I think we should’ve played it straight. It’s much more impor- tant to be clear than to be clever.   en-us Fri, 17 Oct 2008 17:20:57 PDT