I was very surprised and disappointed to see the front page of my paper Wedensday morning with the “tabloid like” headline of, “Newspapers ordered off Coupeville sidewalk” and “Town exceeds authority…”

I was further dismayed by the article’s implication that the Town of Coupeville was challenging the freedom of the press. This is a simple case of a small town trying to be responsive to its citizens and the press seems to be blowing the whole thing out of proportion.

Since I am the one who made the phone calls in question but was never contacted by your paper for this article, please allow me to tell you what actually happened.  It’s very simple. The town has received complaints about the clutter on the sidewalks of Front Street, both from an appearance and usability standpoint: it’s difficult for people walking together to pass these newspaper boxes.

First, I talked with the management of Toby’s to make sure they didn’t have an objection to removing the newspaper boxes next to their business. They did not. Next, I called USA Today, the Whidbey News-Times and the company that publishes the free real estate guides. I explained we were trying to make the sidewalks more accessible and clean up the appearance of historic Coupeville. I asked, not ordered, if they would remove their dispensers and they all said yes, it might take a week or so to get it done, but no problem.

Then I made the same call to the Seattle PI/Times. I was told in no uncertain terms that we “did not own the sidewalk,” “they had a ‘right’ to be there,” “they had taken this issue to the Supreme Court and won,” “they were surprised the other papers had agreed to move their boxes,” and “they would absolutely not move their dispensers.” Geez! I thought this response was way over the top and disproportionate to the request being made. I called the mayor and told her what the PI/Times said. She did some research and found out this information was correct, end of story … or so I thought.

Next thing we know your reporter is calling the mayor’s office to find out if we have a town policy on placement of newspaper boxes and questioning our authority to move them. When I made the original call to your office asking, not ordering, you to remove that one box, I was told “no problem.”  Your paper was the first to remove their dispenser, which did not surprise me, because you have local employees available to do so. I assumed you wanted to cooperate with a simple request made by a neighboring community. Here’s my question to you, Whidbey News Times: What changed? Did someone from the Seattle Times call and whip you up into a frenzy about your freedom of the press rights being violated? Why did you not mention these concerns when I first called? Why didn’t you call me?

The town did in fact remove one old, yellow box we believed was abandoned. I checked it several times and there were never any papers in it. The box had no contact names or numbers.  When we realized the box belonged to the Coupeville Examiner the mayor called to apologize for moving it. The Examiner said they could understand why we thought it was abandoned. A reasonable response from the Examiner for an honest misunderstanding by the town.

I’m disappointed that your paper chose to turn this situation into a front page story. I’m disappointed that you chose to turn what was really a simple housekeeping issue into an accusation of abuse for the freedom the press. I’m disappointed that you did not choose to show the Town of Coupeville the courtesy of calling back and saying you changed your mind.  I’m just plain disappointed.

Molly Hughes is a Couepville Town Council member.