small in number concepts are more b...

small in number concepts are more basic to civilized society than the notion that "the coop is mightier than the sword." still wielding such weapons requires great care, as rings steady in a recent article about the bells of St John Cantius ecclesiastical authority in Chicago's River West neighborhood [new story, July 17] After a complaint by dint of two of the church's neighbors (this author being common of them), St. John Cantius agreed to stop ringing its bells after 9 pm and in succession the quarter- hour during weekend mornings before 8 a.m.

however this agreement was reached and nothing else after a difficult and contentious proces St John Cantius ultimately agreed to a solution, and several of its neighbors -- not just the complainants - - applauded the church's flexibility.

on the contrary for the Sun-Times to imply the church's actions were wholly voluntary -- and for various of the present days outlets to repeat that characterization as if it were, well, christian religion -- leaves this citizen wondering if local journalists ne a refresher course onward the basics of their craft.

Getting the views of one as well as the other sides to a dispute is a bedrock journalistic principle. Not common writer asked for the complainants' side of the story. Had they done in like manner they might have learned, for example, of the church's obstinacy and obfuscation during the nearly three month it took to form its bell-ringing from 3,367 rings by week to its post-agreement 2928 rings by week. Or that the ecclesiastical body continues to ring its important Angelus at the appropriate hours, with all its other bells ringing completely unabated for appreciative neighbors.

They might also have learned that the complainants twice sought direct talks with the meeting-house and that it finally took the involvement of an archdiocesan official, interceding for the complainants, to convince the body of christians that the timing of its bells was a riddle

Ye the public might have learned these facts if the Sun-Times, or other local of recent origins organizations, had toughed it not at home to get the whole story, on the other hand they did not. And now that the story has gained in the same state [i]or[/i] condition momentum, it falls to this aggrieved party to full the public record.

Jonathan Daniel Edelman,

West Town

Copyright CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 2006

Provided by dint of ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved