Conscience of the Community: Memoir of a Small-Town Editor

The Community’s ‘Conscience'It’s a daunting mission: To stand as the conscience of the community. But that’s exactly what management of the Bradenton Herald expected David Klement to do - for 30 years. As editor of the Editorial Page, he was expected to write the editorials that represented the voice of the newspaper - and the conscience of the community it served. Perhaps that is why there are several references in this book to Don Quixote, for the author often felt like the haunted Spanish nobleman on impossible quests as he raised his editorial lance to tilt at the metaphorical windmills of his community: its politicians and demagogues, its opportunists and hypocrites, its slumlords and robber barons. But there were plenty of flower petals strewn in the paths of its saints and heroes, civic servants and volunteers, pastors, teachers and parents. He addresses many of his coastal Florida community’s characters and foibles in this memoir of his life and anthology of his best personal journalism over a distinguished, three-decade-long career at the Bradenton Herald.