Owning a small-town newspaper requires a deft touch. If you report everything that happens, people won't talk with you. You have to be mindful of reputations. It's perfectly proper to report that Rebecca Lawson won first place in the Optimist Club speech contest. It's a lot less interesting, but it makes for a peaceful community.
Denial does a thriving business in most small towns.
If you wanted the real news in our town, you had to visit the card rack at the Rexall. It was the only card rack in town, so anyone wanting to placate or woo someone with a card would inevitably end up at Rexall poring over the meager offering of poetry and prose under the watchful gaze of Thad Cramer, the town's pharmacist. An observant citizen could learn a great deal by watching the cards people bought. I was there one morning when Howard Barry walked in. During the next six months, I kept an ear turned toward the Barry drama.