Tri-County Suncoast Pages

As a small business owner in Highlands County and an advertiser in Highlands Today, I was saddened by the way in which your paper has taken aim at a small business owner in this county. Small businesses are closing at an unprecedented rate all over the country, why is the Highlands Today making this unfortunate mistake front-page news?

Did the man who felt as though he did not exist pay for an ad in this publication? This book is about advertising your products and services in other areas that surround Highlands County, not finding yourself in the white pages. I have found errors in the Embarq (DEX) telephone book in the past, but did not think it was worthy of a front-page article.

This publication not only serves the advertisers by helping them obtain business from out of their county, but also serves the public giving them the opportunity to find or compare businesses in other counties. This is called free enterprise, one of the concepts on which our great country was founded.

No one is forced to buy an ad in this publication. I personally have received, on numerous occasions, a bill from another publication stating that I owe them for an ad which I never ordered. This is the type of unprofessional business tactic that should make front-page news. Who knows how many people have mistakenly paid for those ads. Your paper should find good news to print; we have had enough bad news for too long.

Linda Carroll
Lake Placid

Editor's note: The phone book is used as a year-long reference for residential phone use and for advertising purposes. With an entire prefix listed incorrectly that potentially affects hundreds, if not thousands, of residents, we believe it was newsworthy due to the number of people affected.