EDITOR of Vernon Courier going to Greener Pastures.

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Another Editor of the Vernon Daily Courier, Scott Neufeld has left for greener pastures. Like his predecessor David Wylie who moved to Ottawa with the label of 'Evil Editor ', Scott has managed to irritate some of the local Politicians with his viewpoint and observations on their performance. This young talented journalist moves to Vancouver to bigger and greener pastures with apparently written complaints by local Political bigwig(s) to his Publisher to add to his resume. This written missive from a Politician to one's boss must be viewed in the Journalistic community as a 'rite of passage' and one that Scott wears with a degree of pride. I can just imagine the 'shit eating smirk' on his face when he read that masterpiece. (I hope that the politician was smart enough to put in on his personal stationary rather than on City letterhead !)

His acerbic wit and writing talents are shown in his last column and his ability to make you want more of his reporting acumen are displayed when he tantalizes the readers with an off the hand remark about a $1 million overestimation in the Architects numbers re the proposed Library/Civic Complex.

His attempt to build and sustain this fledging newspaper with limited resources and staffing imposed by the Kelowna head office are appreciated by those of us who recognize the absolute necessity of a two paper city. Hopefully their decision to reduce the Vernon edition of their newspaper from 8 pages of local news and a vibrant editorial page to Page 1 and Page 3 of a Kelowna dominated 12 pager with NO Vernon editorial page will be short lived. A decision to expand their reporting department, lower their daily paper price and attempt to compete should be made as soon as possible.

Scott will leave Vernon to tackle the big City Journalistic Jungle and like some of his venerable Columnists such as OK Corbett and George Dobie will return as a grizzled veteran to enjoy our valley and amuse us with his writing. Hopefully there will be a newspaper here then that will appreciate his talent.