Random thoughts as we clean out the cobwebs in the new office and the old mine …

• A Wednesday caller said that as a long-time reader of this newspaper, he was offended to see Rush Limbaugh’s name on the editorial page.

While this newspaper historically has — and will continue — taken a middle-of-the road approach, we will offer you a variety of opinions. Many, because we are conservative in nature, will take that tone … but there have been just as many conservative writers critical of Limbaugh or the administration of the former president as have been supportive.

It’s here that we’ll share the Fox News line of giving you choices and allowing you to decide.

One place that won’t happen is on the news pages, where our job is to report the news and fairly and as balanced as possible.

News on news pages … opinions — some you will share and some you won’t – on the opinion page.

And as I told the caller Wednesday, thanks for reading the paper all these years.

Over the past week we’ve been doing some upgrading and making some changes to our website. One thing we’ve done is add a button where you can sign up for e-mail updates whenever we update the website. While the “button” is on the page, we’re working to get the transition done smoothly. Please be patient.

Another area we’ve been working on is the comment portion of the site, where readers have the opportunity to comment on stories.

A check of WHOIS reveals that a large portion of our comments come from a location closer to Baton Rouge than the River Parishes.

Comments that remain on-subject for the particular article will be permitted while those that include profane language or are off-the-topic, will not be allowed and those comments will be removed.

One of the comments pertained to my philosophy of “LNLFLA” would make for a dull newspaper. The fact this is a local, community newspaper makes LNLFLA the fuel that drives our engine. To the folks who read this newspaper, they are local for local faces, local names and local activities and we’re going to do our best to give them an extra healthy serving.

(John H. Walker is editor and publisher of L’Observateur and can be reached at 652-9545 or john.walker@wickcommunications.com.)