I actually had to research when the Don Henley song Dirty Laundry was released and it turns out it was in 1982 and reached the No. 1 spot in October 1982 when I was just getting to my new duty station for the U.S. Army in, as luck would have it, Portland, Maine.

I really didn’t pay much attention to the meaning of the lyrics but I remember that it was a catchy tune that got stuck in my head. What’s really ironic is that in the second verse of the song there are words that state something like the head is dead and at that time I had no clue what that referred to and as best as I can tell, it wasn’t about a dead person but rather a newspaper article being placed in final print.

I was brought up by parents who encouraged me to read and that included newspapers as well. It didn’t take me long to figure out during the early years of my military career that whatever made the news could or would have an impact on my life by determining where I would be stationed or suddenly deployed to. That was reinforced by having been stationed at the U.S. Army’s Europe headquarters when it was in Heidelberg, West Germany, and then being stationed at the Pentagon. The news became extremely important to me after terrorists set off two car bombs at Campbell Barracks in Heidelberg, which is where my office was. Even to this day I never pass up the opportunity to read a newspaper or magazine that I haven’t read before. For others, it might seem like I have a compulsive disorder to continuously read but at least it exercises my little brain.

I have to wonder if one of the problems our society has is too much news and by that I mean the need to have several stations reporting news 24 hours around the clock. For sure not all the stories are worthwhile news but when a story breaks like what happened in Ferguson, Mo., all the stations go into hyper-reporting, some of which is done by reporters that don’t have the expertise to report on such a news story.

One of the leading news stations loves to start their reports on Ferguson by stating that’s the town where a white cop shot an unarmed black youth. It’s not that it’s a lie but rather the fact that they leave out a whole lot of details. I believe those details are the problem that has caused rioting in the past and will continue to do so when the grand jury finally releases their verdict on that shooting.

That is certainly not the only news story that is hyped into hyperspace in order to get people to watch. On the other hand, there are stories that should be out in front and yet many television stations and other forms of media totally avoid them. I’ll be honest and state that I no longer watch MSNBC although I enjoy watching news on Channel 6 in the morning and evening. I avoid programs on Fox and CNN that tend to focus on the show’s commentator because for me that certainly is not news but rather someone’s opinion, which is no different than my column.

And speaking of news, I have an afterthought on last week’s column in regard to the Windham town councilors. I can see a spark of hope for the leadership of the town of Windham. Although there was some discord, which I fully expected, I have strong hopes that Windham has a town council that will work together so that Windham residents can expect having results that benefit our future. Yes, Councilor Matt Noel submitted his resignation, but that’s his problem and that’s the end of that.

Lane Hiltunen, of Windham, believes the Windham town councilors need to have their discussions at the council meetings, not on the telephone.