HWJ writer policy

The Huerfano World Journal-
Committed newspaper, committed staff.
Last week, three of the HWJ news staff were elected to office. We are extremely proud of them.
Larry Patrick, our sales manager, was elected to be Walsenburg’s next mayor.
Writers David Tesitor and Jaye Sudar were both elected to the RE-1 School Board.
We have always prided ourselves on hiring educated people who are dedicated to our community, so it comes as no surprise that their passion to help out and improve things extends to them standing up and running for office.
This does however, raise a question of conflicts of interest. David and Jaye have both written extensively about the RE-1 School District, and David is our sports editor. Larry covers a variety of beats at City Hall, though not the City Council meeting itself.
Well, Walsenburg’s gain is going to be our loss.
As long as they sit on the school board, David and Jaye will not be writing about board topics (side note: we’re looking for a school writer. Anyone interested?) David, as sports editor, has broader discretion. He will continue to cover sports for the paper, and if ever a vote comes before the board regarding sports that might potentially be a conflict with his writing, he will use his common sense and recuse himself from the vote.
Larry has stopped covering City Hall for the paper. Bill Knowles and Eric Mullens will pick up the slack. The Signature newspaper will have just as much information from the mayor as we will.
We live in a small community, and accordingly, have a smaller pool of dedicated, talented people to do the hard work of serving. Larry, David and Jaye are just the kind of people we need in office right now, and we expect them to do the right thing and recuse themselves if required. Otherwise, they will continue to write for the HWJ.