Jim Ross: Former members return to H-D editorial board

This is the time of year when The Herald-Dispatch says goodbye to its previous group of readers who served as citizen members of our editorial board and welcomes a new group.

We thank Shelly Betz, Mike Grady and Omayma Touma for their contributions to the newspaper these past six months. They provided some spirited discussion as The Herald-Dispatch formed its editorial policy on issues of local interest.

But their terms are over, and now it's time to announce our new citizen members. But this time, they're not that new.

We wanted to try something different, so we reached into the past to look for people who have been citizen members before and who were willing to serve again. We examined the list of previous members and looked for people who were still available. Sadly, some past members have passed away or moved out of the area. Of the ones left, we looked for balance and for the contributions they made.

Having done that, we invited Diane Mufson and Bill Dingus to return to the board, and they accepted.

Mufson was one of the first citizen members of The Herald-Dispatch editorial board way back in 1999. Since then, she has been a frequent voice on our opinion pages. She is a licensed psychologist in private practice.

Dingus, executive director of the Lawrence Economic Development Corp., was a citizen member of the editorial board in the second half of 2004.

When 2008 turns into 2009, we may reach back into the ranks of past members again. Or we may ask for fresh faces. Or we may try something different. But we have to get through this year first. With elections at all levels of government and with changes coming elsewhere in the Tri-State, we'll have plenty on our hands between now and then.

Jim Ross is editorial page editor of The Herald-Dispatch. He can be contacted at (304) 526-2803 or jimross@herald-dispatch.com. Check out his Hot Topics blog at www.herald- dispatch.com. Just click on the News tab and choose blogs.