BY JOHN H. WALKER
L’Observateur

“it’s fine that you want folks to register but I bet L’Observateur will not be able to keep confidentialality (sic) rules in place. that’s the problem with this parish, folks don’t know how to separate professionalism from personalism. It’s a shame that you can’t speak freely and in good taste from an anonymous prospective.”

— lacountrygrl (6/18/09)

The above comment relates to our decision to require registration to participate in the comment section of the website and “lacountrygrl” hit the nail on the head in regards to the reason for registration when she wrote, “It’s a shame that you can’t speak freely and in good taste from an anonymous prospective.”

It’s not the people who made anonymous comments in good taste who caused the change, but rather those who hid behind anonymity to name call, slander and abuse others.

There are a number of comments on our site where people have provided their e-mail addresses. The earliest is from June 14 from “Lisa” in regards to the traffic crash on Airline in St. Rose that claimed the life of the woman from Montz.

No e-mail addresses are shown and none will be made public unless the registrant allows it. If a registered user submits an unacceptable comment, they will receive an e-mail telling them why their comment won’t publish.

Also, if readers feel a comment is unacceptable they can use the “report abuse” option to tell us why they think it is unacceptable.

As “lacountrygrl” said, it is a shame some folks can’t speak freely and in good taste — not just from an anonymous point of view, but in all manners of conversation. Registration places no restrictions on your ability to comment, whether they come as compliment or condemnation … you still choose your screen name to use … you just have to come out from hiding and play a nicer with others.

In last Tuesday’s Omaha World Herald there was a short article inside the paper that gave the details of the city’s latest murder — which just happened to be the eighth of the year. Omaha and New Orleans are approximately the same size — about 400,000 people — and in mid-to-late April, New Orleans recorded eight murders in one week.

There are similarities between the two cities — New Orleans’ French Quarter and Omaha’s Old Market District, for example. Both cities have a number of festivals all year long, although Omaha certainly has nothing as big as Mardi Gras. The College World Series, which attracts 300,000 or so fans along with another 200,000 or so people on the periphery, has to be Omaha’s biggest event and I would think the weather — it was 57 degrees at 8:30 a.m. on June 13 — might have something to do with “cooling” people down.

But still … eight in Omaha and 83 in New Orleans as of June 19? What’s wrong with that picture? It’s clear one of the differences in the two cities is the decision by New Orleanians to use a weapon to solve differences.

Mark Chapman of LaPlace was one of the umpires selected to call the College World Series. I learned of Chapman’s presence while thumbing through my program as I sat on the front row of the right field bleachers for the Arkansas-Cal State Fullerton game. The previous night, as Fan Fest was winding down, I met CWS media coordinator J.D. Hamilton and probably could have gotten access to Chapman for a story for the hometown paper but he was there to work and I was there on vacation … and I think those roles worked perfectly.

(John H. Walker is editor and publisher of L’Observateur and can be contacted at (985) 652-9545 or john.walker@wickcommunications.com.)