This is the way it's supposed to work - a great partnership between community, print and web:
New Mexico has a huge problem with DWI, and with DWI-related fatalities. It carries its own special topic on our site to house the related articles, and a special in- depth analysis last year in print is still timely as a background reference.This summer's death of Judith Scasserra-Cinciripini (see our stories of July 28 and July 29) was only the latest addition to New Mexico's continuing, tragic legacy of DWI.
The news stories stirred a passionate response in the form of reader comments on the Santa Fe New Mexican’s Web site, FreeNewMexican.com. One reader, Judy Yelsky, suggested that we create a forum for practical suggestions to counter the terrible impact of DWI, and later, another reader, Daniel Duby, suggested we include it in the print edition as well (download the pdf reproduction of the print page). As hundreds of people submitted ideas, and then voted on them, the Santa Fe County DWI Planning Council called to let us know they felt the time was right for a Public Forum, at which our readers’ suggestions, and others developed and tested across the country could be discussed and prioritized—and volunteers recruited to carry them forward. Web publisher and department head Michael Odza put coordinated with the Planning Council in developing the online ballot (also shown on the print page) to narrow down the best ideas (see the ballot at the end of the forum article). Michael was featured in a video news story on KOB-TV News for our efforts.
Michael Odza and I went to the forum meeting where M.O. blogged a real-time account on our regular New Mexican blog (the link is to the last entry of that night, but the previous entries covering the entire forum are to the right).
We were especially pleased to see our print brethren join us by incorporating the comments back into print, making the loop between reporting and public input come full circle. If you've read the blog entries below, you know that closing that gap, that disconnect, is a central tenet of our philosophy.
