The Dresden Enterprise strives to provide the best in news coverage to the citizens of Weakley County. In an effort to provide our readers with a wide variety of news from our staff, as well as provide adequate space for news submitted by our readers, the newspaper maintains a strict editing policy in regard to articles submitted for publication. The following is a general outline of the policies of the Dresden Enterprise.

The deadline for submission of general news is 10 a.m. each Tuesday morning. Society news, such as wedding articles, should be submitted by 5 p.m. each Monday. All news should be submitted as far in advance of deadline as possible.

All news submitted for publication should be written in third person. News writers should avoid using personal nouns such as I, we, they, my, me and other nouns in articles that are in the first or second person.

Proper grammar and sentence structure should be used. Pay particular attention to verb tense. Avoid run-on sentences. Sentences should be short and not too complex, so as to become confusing. All news articles submitted for publication should be written in complete sentences.

Statements such as happy birthday, happy anniversary, thank you, our appreciation to, congratulations, our sincere sympathy, best wishes, and similar lines are not allowable for publication in news articles. These and similar statements will be edited out of news articles.

Writers may write: John and Mary Smith celebrated their fiftieth anniversary this week; or Joe Doe celebrated a birthday on May 31; or Susie Smith won the Fairest of the Fair beauty contest Saturday. This is a proper news format without the use of personal salutations by the writer.

This newspaper provides space for church news to allow for reporting of activities in churches within the county. This news space is not for delivering religious messages. Advertising space is available for writers wishing to deliver a religious message.

Writers of church news may give a brief, one sentence summary of the sermon in a news article.

Writers of church news should avoid including "community" or "personal" news in the same column with the church news.

List of names of individuals attending birthday parties, anniversaries, funerals, church gatherings, reunions, and similar functions will not be published. In the alternative, you may write: "Twenty family and friends attended the birthday party;" or "Fifteen classmates were in attendance at the reunion." A photograph submitted for publication concerning the above events will list only the names of individuals shown in the picture for identification purposes.

News of events such as weddings, reunions, anniversaries, etc., should be submitted for publication within six weeks of the date of the event. After six weeks, the article may not be published or may be significantly edited to contain only the significant facts. Any article submitted alter a period of 12 weeks following an event will not be considered for publication in any form.

All news submitted for publication, regardless of its source, is subject to being edited by the newspaper, to bring the news into compliance with newspaper policies.

The Dresden Enterprise publishes letters to the editor from our readers. However, the newspaper maintains a strict policy in regards to the acceptance of letters submitted for publication.

The Enterprise accepts letters concerning issues of public concern. Letters attacking private businesses or non-public individuals are not accepted for publication. Letters of a libelous nature are rejected for publication. The newspaper further does not print "thank you" type letters in the letters to the editor column.

Letters to the editor submitted for publication must contain a valid name and address, along with a telephone number, in order to verify the authenticity of the letter writer. All letters to the editor are subject to being edited in regards to content and length of the letter.