Published: March 28, 2006 07:38 am      

Stott’s voice will be missed

Herb Stott was a unique writer of letters to the editor.

I was sad to learn about Mr. Stott’s passing when I read his obituary in Wednesday’s edition of The Meridian Star.

My first meeting with Mr. Stott came in 1991. I interviewed him for a business story. He was the manager of Fairbanks Scales, and I remember that he ran a tight ship. Also, for several years I saw him regularly when my family attended First Baptist Church of Meridian.

Part of my job then was to produce the Opinion page for this newspaper, and Mr. Stott was one of my regular letter writers.

For many years, he expressed his views about the state of this community on The Star’s Opinion pages. Often, he expressed his concerns and dismay about the economic conditions and various political issues. He aggravated some folks at times when he questioned their ideas and plans, looking at them from a different light.

Mr. Stott had no agenda that I ever knew of. If he thought things were bad, he would say it in his letters.

Mr. Stott made his point with numbers. I never read anything he wrote in which he quoted what “somebody said.” He pulled local statistics into his formula and let things fall where they might.

I enjoy letters to the editor. I appreciate the writers, too, for caring enough about the community to voice their opinion and to put their names with it.

You have your cheerleaders who are behind a certain point or cause. You have your “concerned citizens against everything” who tend to be pessimistic and very suspicious. And then you have many others in between those extremes, adding to this communitywide forum.

That’s where I always saw Mr. Stott’s place in the discussion. I found him to be a well-grounded, smart man who cared about this place we call home.

His voice will be missed.

Steve Swogetinsky is a staff writer for The Meridian Star.