Editor,
For the Nisqually Valley News (NVN) to name Line Roy its 2023 Person of the Year is misplaced at best. Ms. Roy is a public servant and, as such, is paid by Yelm taxpayers as a city employee. Quoting your newspaper, her job is to “enhance residents’ experiences and memories of living in a small town” and has a budget to make that happen. Line Roy is Yelm’s communications coordinator and official publicist, while your publication is the city’s newspaper of record. This is a conflict of interest. Former NVN editor/publisher Keven Graves previously decried public officials for not doing everything to avoid even an appearance of a conflict of interest. That also applies to your newspaper. What about all of the other wonderful volunteers who have given so much time and efforts to the Yelm community? After all, Ms. Roy had already been properly recognized last month by Mayor Joe DePinto as the city’s 2023 Employee of the Year, reported by your newspaper. The NVN missed an opportunity to acknowledge other fine citizens of Yelm who volunteer their time and energy to this community.
Steve Klein
Yelm
