The Editor's Back Fence

These are the stories the metro papers love to write: Funny Stuff Going on in Quirky East Bay Town. Here at the Planet we're pleased that they're doing this so we don't need to bother. Think of these as our soft features. 

Do bumperstickers predict road rage everywhere? 

Or 

Only in Berkeley ? 

Or how about the shocking news that the contest to choose the new stamps which go on duck hunting permits is being held here? 

Only in Quirky Bezerkeley, says the Chron. 

And here's a sensible story about something that has always struck me as a silly project: a plan to start a Berkeley paper which apparently will be devoted to heartwarming tales of kids and pets. That's a formula which works in many places, including Piedmont, but it hasn't worked here, though it's been tried before--and the Berkeley Voice (local version of the Bay Area News Group) covers the territory pretty well for its mostly Hills readers. If the sample issue reproduced in this piece is any indication, they might need to hire a fact-checker: the lead headline is "A community newspaper resumes print in Berkeley." Resumes?