ANCHORAGE - Members of the Juneau Empire's staff won 11 titles, including four first places, in the annual Alaska Press Club awards, the organization announced Saturday at the conclusion of its annual conference here.

The Post Office is working to redefine its role in American life. It wasn't that long ago folks used the U.S. Mail to send Christmas lists, pay bills, get magazines and communicate both professionally and personally.

In my role as recipient of letters to the editor, I function as the point person for a plethora of pen pals. It's one of the best parts of my job. Filling the Opinion page is particularly challenging. It's a subjective exercise that requires fairness and balance. With rare exception, we devote only one page to opinion Monday through Friday. On Sundays, we spring for all or part of a second Opinion page.

If it makes sense to move Alaska's capital from Juneau to Mat-Su and to hold legislative sessions in an abandoned Wal-Mart, let's consider other potential relocations of similar merit:

I can imagine the conversation. "Hey, Dad. While you and Mom shop I'm gonna hike up that mountain. I heard there's lots of trails. The sun's gonna stay up forever and it's so gorgeous today." "OK, son, but be careful. You don't know what's up there. It could be dangerous."

Because this is the Sunday before the first anniversary, our attention involuntarily refocuses. Because nothing like this ever had happened to most of us, I don't have to specify the event. We know.

"Word of Mouth ... allows wildly inaccurate allegations to - in effect - be interpreted by the reader as fact, simply because the allegations take the form of ink on paper. Half-baked opinions and often simply stupid comments find life in the warped journalism of Word of Mouth."

I've meant to be a better correspondent, someone who checks in regularly and asks, "How are things going?" No more excuses. How are things going? Are we covering the issues and events you're interested in?

On a recent Sunday, an article atop the front page of the Empire contained an error in the first sentence. Had the error involved spelling, grammar or punctuation, I would not be writing about it here. The error was one of fact.

Don't worry, this is not the kick-off of some regular, self-indulgent account of "What's Happening in My Life (Not Yours)" column. Today, the space is devoted to acknowledging the hospitality that has been extended to me since I arrived July 31 and to sharing my initial reaction to Word of Mouth.