Faults election coverage

To the Editor: Over the last two months, Sparta citizens have needed to make important voting decisions for board of education and town council elections. I am disappointed and frustrated that the Sparta Independent did not provide any candidate coverage on the board of education election and also didn’t cover the recently held debate for town council. Sparta citizens look to the Independent as a resource to help them learn about issues and activities in Sparta. Unfortunately, factual and unbiased information was nowhere to be found for both of these elections. I recognize that each person running for town council was given the opportunity to submit a short bio and answer a few questions. This to me is very different than the unbiased coverage of a debate. I do not understand why the Sparta Independent chose to minimize the importance of this election by not including coverage of the debate. Sparta citizens need a resource to learn facts about all aspects of the town and, unfortunately, I do not see the Sparta Independent as wanting to be that resource. Given recent actions, it has become clear to me that the Sparta Independent is just an advertising vehicle like the Shopper. I believe the Independent is missing a key opportunity. Wouldn’t you think advertisers would prefer to spend their advertising budget on a newspaper that citizens view as a community resource, not just a Shopper? I hope others share their disappointment as well via letters and e-mails to the editor. Joananne Bachmann Sparta