I always enjoy receiving suggestions from readers because it means they want the I-R to be better — the same as all of us who work at the newspaper.

I enjoy the suggestions even more when the readers sign their names — not so I can put them on an enemies list, but because most of the time, I’d call them for more information or to explain why we do what we do.

A case in point:

A recent letter contained several suggestions, at least one of which can be implemented immediately.

The reader does not care for the gray screens we sometimes use to highlight specific information and break up copy. Too hard to read, he or she wrote.

This is not the first time I have heard this complaint and it’s an easy enough fix. We simply will not do it — or if we think a screen is necessary, we will make sure it is light enough not to distract from the information we wish the reader to see.

As for the letter writer’s other suggestions ...

He requested more news from central Kansas. We have tried to address that issue with the launch of The Magazine. Dedicated to the People and Places of Salina and Central Kansas.

The first edition of the quarterly magazine was included in the I-R in November. It contained stories on the Vanier family, owner of the CK Ranch in Saline and Ellsworth counties, columns by Josh Svaty and Gordon Fiedler, a retired Salina Journal columnist who often writes about his home in Ottawa County.

Another edition of The Magazine is set to hit the streets in early February. We will have stories about the children who posed for the mural on the former flour mill in north Salina and a profile on actor Tyrees Allen, who is in Salina to direct “Bus Stop” at the Salina Community Theatre. “Bus Stop” was the theatre’s first production.

The reaction to The Magazine has been rewarding, to say the least.

Here is what one reader wrote in response to the quarterly photo we publish from the Smoky Hill Museum: “The photo in your last issue was of the Lamar Hotel. My dad used to get his hair cut there in the early 50s. You can see a 1956 Chevy parked out front of the hotel in the photo. It appears to be yellow and white. Ironically, my dad owns a yellow and white 1956 Chevy and still drives it every weekend. My dad is 78 and knows a ton of Salina history as a life long resident. Thanks for the great magazine! Thank you! — John Ludes

[Go to indyrepnews. com and click on The Magazine at the bottom of the front page.]

I need help with the third complaint — that our Passages page of Ellsworth County history is too long. Over the years, the paper has received opinions for and against limiting the Passages page. What do you think?

E-mail me at ldenning@ indyrepnews.com or the street address is 304 N. Douglas Ave., Ellsworth, Kan. 67439. Don’t limit your suggestions to the Passages page. We welcome your ideas, especially when they are accompanied by a name.

Linda Mowery-Denning is editor-publisher of the Ellsworth County I-R. Independent-Reporter.