I just got off the phone with Kingston Reporter Editor Scott Smith who wanted me to know, and to pass on to our web readers, the fact that a portion of a recent post election story was incorrect. The story, carried on their website, indicated that Selectman-elect Sandra MacFarlane had urged people to bullet her on the ballot (voting only for her and not for a second candidate). Scott acknowledged that the reporter who wrote the story was in error. The reporter believed that such a comment had been made during a Selectmen's meeting and based the comments on that belief. A subsequent review of the meeting tapes by the Kingston Reporter did not reveal such a statement as being made.
Smith stated that he deeply regrets the mistake and has corrected the story and issued a correction on their website. He said that the hard copy of the newspaper went to press yesterday and unfortunately the story could not be corrected. Smith said that a retraction will appear a week from tomorrow.
People close to the MacFarlane Committee told the Observer that they would expect such a retraction to appear in a prominent position in the paper and not buried inside. Knowing Scott Smith as we do, we believe that would most certainly be the case.