Silver Creek sewage in TH? My bad!

Talk about it

Well, it had to happen. I was just hoping it would happen a little further down the road — maybe five or 10 years down the road.

Last week, I made a mistake in reporting about the Two Harbors City Council meeting. In the article, I gave the impression that Silver Creek would be sending its sewage to Two Harbors after the completion of its sewer system. No such agreement has yet been made. It's just one of the options Silver Creek is exploring. My bad.

I found out about the mistake on Friday afternoon when I got a call from someone in Silver Creek who was very kind, but wanted me to know that he had been receiving phone calls from residents wanting to know what was going on. My stomach gave a nasty lurch and I could feel my cheeks flushing. Oh, no. I not only felt terrible that he was having to answer all those calls, but I also realized the implications of the mistake — many others got the wrong information.

Since I have been at the News-Chronicle, I have received some heated criticism from readers and I listen and take action if I can. The work we do means nothing if we don't make every effort to be accurate and accountable.

I apologized to the kind man from Silver Creek and agreed to meet with him in a couple of weeks to do a story about the sewer system and set the record straight. When I got off the phone, I made sure that the correction was made on the News-Chronicle website and that an additional alert was posted on our homepage. Finally, I emailed the Two Harbors city councilors (those who have email addresses) to let them know in the event that their phones start ringing, too.

Once in a while, I suppose we're going to make mistakes. We try not to make them, but I can tell you that when we do, we take them seriously. So, thanks for calling, Silver Creek. I appreciate the chance to make it right.

Tags: silver creek, opinion