What would your story assignment be?

I would do a story comparing city worker salaries to those comparable at the other places of employment in Columbus. Including benefits, vacation, sick days, etc.

This includes desk jobs as well as others.

I see alot of waste and would like to see if it was justified.

Ya some sort of survey /question / comment section to see what really is the best and worst place to work in Platte County this would be a big hit for sure.

Awareness of handicapped accessibility in the City of Columbus needs to be addressed by city officials. At the present time, there are approxiamately 11 blind or severely visually handicapped people who work at an industry in town (in the old Walmart building). These people are very independent and would love to do their own shopping etc.... I personally know two of the ladies and I call them my heroes for their ability to live such an active life in spite of their handicap. Even walking to work is a problem for them because the city can not or will not work with the state to change the yellow blinking stoplight by Walmart to a fully functional light. Also, at a minimum of cost, the stop lights can be changed to "talking pedestrian lights" at other locations - Norfolk has them. Sidewalks have barriers or there are no sidewalks directly into grocery stores etc.... All this falls on apparent deaf ears with the city. I called the city administrator a number of times about the stoplight on 27th Street and 33rd Avenue and never received a phone call back. I would like the city to do what is right instead of sinking money into golf courses etc.... Also, there needs to be more public awareness that a white cane or a guide dog is a visual reminder that the person is blind!

The amount of time it takes the ambulance to get to the scene. The call times could be posted with the calls on the public record.

City waste accross the board is something the Telegram needs to be looking at a lot closer. Everything from city employees to the golf course needs to be looked at much closer. I saw some city employees hiding out the other day trying to pass idle time because there was nothing to do. I am tired of my tax dollars being wasted in both the city budget and the school budget.

I would like to see more human interest stories from the Columbus area instead of so many articles from the far east coast and the west coast. (NY, east coast etc.) Surely there are stories right around Columbus that the people are interested in. I can think of several things that were barely mentioned in the paper. The marching band festival for one. You ought to do some interviews with the leader, the students and parents who do so much that no one knows about. They just received a l at Burke in Omaha this weekend. There were over 30 schools there and Columbus was one of 5 or 6 that got ones. Find out about it and write about it. I'm sure that there are many interesting people in this community to write about. I would appreciate your publishing a school calendar with weekly events. Especially the music concerts. We find out about them AFTER they are over. Many Senior Citizens would like to know about them. Interview the music department . Find out about all the hard work they put in. You write columns and columns about the athletics in the area. Enough of the crime, sex assaults etc. that seem to ALWAYS be on the front page! Put something GOOD on the front page. It might even cut the crime rate so one's name would get in the paper for something GOOD or GREAT that they have done or accomplished. If you did some more of these positive things, you might even sell more papers. I know you are thinking that it is the ugly that sells. You won't know unless you try the other. Another idea if you haven't enough reporters, get student reporters from the schools. I don't know if there is a journalism class at the high schools, but maybe it could be worked through the English department.

I've been wanting to write this letter for a long time. We haven't lived here for very long, and am disappointed that there isn't more local news in your paper.

Another thing that could be improved is the Time and place that events are to take place that have been listed in the Chambers insert that comes out the first of the month.

Thank you for listening.

Susanne Discoe

Are those who voted for Obama still happy they did so? Is he doing what he said he'd do?

I would have a reporter write a story about how a couple in Platte Center came to be homeless, because of a couple of things the city council chose to do. A big misunderstanding, I don't think so. Ask anyone in the Platte Center area, except the mayor and his friends. They don't want the story told.

Susan, the student idea is a great idea. Once a week the Telegram could select one student submitted story for the front page. Having students go to the Senior living centers in Columbus for interviews and stories would be great place for them to start.

This is not for a story but a general idea; it would be nice to have a section online where you get to see what animals are available at the areas shelters.. ..whether it be a daily link or current pictures.

I think it would be neat if the citizens of columbus & the surrounding area could send in storys about there hobbys.

Such as what got them involved, why they do it, ect...

That way people that are trying to find things to do with spare time might become interested in something they read about.

With times like they are now with budgets and so on hobbys can be a very good thing to have. I know id write in!!

An article on area recreation and/or items of interest in town and the surrounding area.

Here's an example of 2 gems I stumbled across this year.

The first one was Kappels over by Creston. They say the guy has been there since they invented dirt. Who knew?

The other is ATV's at the headgates in Genoa. What a blast. Some friends had an extra ATV and invited us along.

I like Ms Discoe's idea of the calendar of events too.

Don't get me wrong... I enjoy a good blog lynch mob article like the one about the tattoo guy downtown getting invited for a trip to somewhere else on the goody-two-shoe welcome wagon. But I would like to mix that misery with some of the good things about Columbus too. So maybe you could follow-up a good article with one about income/expense for the city of columbus. Then we could all go to lakestop for one of their awesome ice cream cones.

The merchants, business', and orginizations that make up Columbus, and the services they provide.

My story would be on why the cheerleaders are starting on offense for the Cornhuskers?

Yeah, TheOrocks. Back in the glory days, Doctor Tom waited until the 4th quarter to put the cheerleaders in - to even out the score a bit. ;)

I would be interested in how what problems the leaders of this see 1, 5, 10 year down the road and more importantly how they will solve them.

Example: Gang violence. Do we have tough laws compared to other towns? Do we have tough Anti-Graffiti laws, laws preventing youth from getting paint, tough or easy minor’s with gun laws…

Aquatic Center and Waterpark: Will the Aquatic center need to up updated. What are the true costs when the sales tax runs out? How much does it and will it cost us all?

Dike: How is that coming along? Is it being fixed/raised so south Columbus is not in a flood plain? We are not going to be hit with a sewer bill like Omaha got with their $1billion upgrade.

Vision: What is the vision of the city? How will downtown look? What direction are they focusing?

I am sure there are a lot of problems and that if fine. I would just like to know they are coming and what everyone is doing to prepare. The Viaduct was laughable that they did not see it coming. It has been falling apart for years.

The pessimism, cynicism, despair and gloom in Columbus, NE. Is it as ubiquitous as it seems or is it just the people that comment on the website?

Write stories about what is good in the area! People always complain that there is "nothing to do here", but there are events happening daily (concerts, sporting events, plays, clubs, music, etc).

Highlight groups, clubs and organizations in the area. Kiwanis, Eagles, Optimists, Arts Council, etc.
There are organizations that people don't even know exist, let alone what it is they do.

There are a lot of great things going on in Columbus if people would just look around.

I like the athlete of the week. But this town is so sports orientated- why not focus on those other students that do good things in the community. Does not have to be based on grades alone. What about all the kids who volunteer? What about the young man who opens the door for you at church, etc. lately all we here is all the bad things that kids do- showing the good things would really make ones day (and make the parents proud as well!)

what it was like to grow up and always your adopted and finding your birth mother and also why catholic charities has to be so strict and finding your birth parents and putting a price and searching and reunion when it shouldn't cost a dime thank you and god bless donna

To DONNA--WHAT?

I would ask them to write about juveniles and the emotional problems they face in today's society...such as addiction, cutters..peer pressure ..gangs..broken homes ...ect. I think that Juveniles are treated unfairly in so many ways that people do not understand especially if they are in trouble with the law...but there is always 2 sides to a story. Go around to the schools ..ect and get their opinion about life in the 2000's.

I would love to see an honetst article or more about how the Telegram is actually run. Why the mistakes happen; who's responsible; why they turn innocent stories into huge issues & cause uproars amongst the readers, what exactly happens down there.

I have 4 children of my own at home. I try to do things together with them as much as I can, there are many teenagers in the bars shooting pool,or driving around in circles down our main streets getting in accidents. The YMCA is a great program, but I would like to see the possability of other programs for our youth. They are our future.

I have 4 children of my own at home. I try to do things together with them as much as I can, there are many teenagers in the bars shooting pool,or driving around in circles down our main streets getting in accidents. The YMCA is a great program, but I would like to see the possability of other programs for our youth. They are our future.For example.MY boys,and I like to play around with radio control cars. Grand Island has a track for rc cars.What about a track in Columbus. It's a family thing.

HOW ABOUT A STORY ON SOME OF THOSE OF US WHO GREW UP IN COLUMBUS, LEFT TO GO TO SCHOOL OR GET TRAINED IN OUR CAREERS, AND FOR ONE REASON OR ANOTHER, CAN'T AFFORD TO RETURN BACK TO THE AREA, BUT WOULD LOVE TO RAISE OUR FAMILIES HERE ... THE HOUSING IN COLUMBUS IS SO EXPENSIVE, YET THE WAGES DON'T SUPPORT IT, SO IF YOU HAVE GONE OFF TO COLLEGE AND HAVE STUDENT LOANS OR ANY KIND OF SUBSTANTIAL DEBT, YOU HAVE NO WAY TO RETURN HOME TO RAISE YOUR FAMILY, LOCAL EMPLOYERS PAY TOO LITTLE ..... THE CITY ENTICES BUSINESS INTO TO TOWN WITH TAX BREAKS, UTILTY BREAKS, ETC. BUT DOES NOTHING FOR THE TAX PAYERS!

Why a new room was built a year ago at Emerson for kindergarten and was used for only one year and now sits empty??!???!?!? Where is the planning in the district??? Do we keep adding on here and there for yearly needs or plan for the long term effects????
Where else in the state do they have
5-6 buildings? And, won't it cost more in the end, another set of admins, counselors, nurse, teachers???? and are the empty rooms in all K-5 buildings going to be filled when the 5th pulls out for the new 5-6 building???!!?????!

Less sensationalistic crime & drama ridden news & more about the hometown. What businesses are unique to Col., what services do they provide & the owners behind them. Worked at many of the factories in Col. & would like to know more about what's happening with them like are they expanding, trying new things to maintain their business, etc. Only hear about United Way funded organizations when it's fund raising time. What are they doing during the off season? I'd like to hear about Big Pal/Little Pal matches. What about some of the good things religious organizations are doing in town? Are they going on mission trips? Sponsoring youth geared activities? Would like to see more about what school events are going on.