In its brief existence, Sound Off has become the feature of the newspaper that many readers have told us they turn to before anything else. It has generated comments that have been at times thought-provoking and informative, and at many other times ignorant and downright absurd. Sound Off comments have even influenced public policy - the mayor, for example, credited negative comments in Sound Off for his decision to abandon a controversial college tuition reimbursement plan for himself and his assistant.

On a single day recently, Sound Off comments ranged from a rant against illegal immigration to a complaint about drivers who don't make a full stop when turning right at red lights, to praise for the work the Public Works Department did recently on Torringford West Street.
Through its high points and its low points, Sound Off has been entertaining, and more importantly, it has given voice to a significant portion of our readership and the local citizenry who do not feel comfortable expressing themselves in a letter to the editor or at a public hearing. That's why we launched Sound Off - to give voice in print to the kinds of conversations that happen at the counter of local breakfast places and doughnut shops.

A larger goal of this newspaper and its Web site, www.registercitizen.com, is to be a true and all-inclusive forum of information, ideas and viewpoints for the community. That includes viewpoints that might not be shared by the majority, and that includes viewpoints that might not be shared by leaders of local government.
That being said, there's a limit to "all-inclusive." You know, the old adage that free speech doesn't include yelling "Fire!" in a crowded movie theater.

We've received a lot of criticism about Sound Off from some of the community leaders who've been targeted pretty harshly by comments in it, and Sound Off has also been criticized by readers who object to Sound Off's anonymity. It's one thing to allow "nasty" comments to be published in the paper, they say, but to not even sign your name to them?
My first response is usually, "You should see the Sound Off comments we don't put in the paper." And it's true, we do, of course, screen Sound Off and eliminate any comments that are crude, profane or say things that could be deemed libelous.

My second response, however, has been to listen to the specifics of the complaint. And you know what, I have to admit that in some cases, we have not drawn the line appropriately in the case of Sound Off. Just because a comment doesn't fall completely into the categories mentioned above doesn't mean that it's responsible to publish it.

As you might expect in a forum like this, some of the highest-profile leaders of the community are going to be exposed to the most criticism, and Torrington Mayor Ryan Bingham and School Superintendent Dr. Susan O'Brien have been among Sound Off commentators' biggest targets.
While the jumping off point is almost always germane to a debate of public policy in Torrington, some of the comments about them have quickly degenerated into being little more than nasty, unfair, exaggerated and ignorant.
Sound Off will continue - no doubt, as vibrant, entertaining and controversial as ever.

And readers should feel free to criticize - or praise - the mayor, the school superintendent and other public leaders in Sound Off. They understand that it comes with the job.
But you can't make unfounded accusations, call people names and accuse people of stuff you can't prove and have that published in Sound Off or anywhere else in this newspaper. I'm pledging that to you as strongly as I'm defending the concept of Sound Off itself.

Matt DeRienzo is publisher of The Register Citizen. He can be reached at 860-489-3121, ext. 350, or at mderienzo@registercitizen.com.