The owner, publisher and editor of the North Florida Herald writes a rare front-page editorial today:

Ronald Dupont Jr. column: As my son clutched my side, the man said he knew where I lived:

"Let this be a lesson to all newspapers!"

That's what the angry man yelled after taking one of The North Florida Herald newspaper racks last Thursday, Jan. 7 and knocking it over and then throwing into a parking lot.

Worse, he did this as I stood there with my 4-year-old son, Tripp.

"Don't forget, I know where you live," he yelled, knowing the full impact that statement would have, knowing that my son, who is still in day care, knew him.

You wouldn't think that newspaper editors need to be especially brave in America. They aren't usually arrested for what they publish, or walk their local streets in fear.

The businessman was actually a friend, Dupont wrote, who, after the election of new memebers to the High Springs City Commission had taken all the papers out of the rack and turned it to face the wall because he was

...unhappy with an editorial criticizing one of the new city commissioners. He said he was friends with that commissioner and spoke to him about the editorial.

My friend also complained to me that his letter to the editor had been cut and that his commissioner friend ran his entire letter online to "expose me" (his words) and my bias.

Dupont's resumé is packed with solid Florida journalism experience, including having run the St. Petersburg Times' Web site and five years in the '90s as editor of this same High Springs Herald. He's not an outsider. But the rude polarization so evident in national politics has gotten microlocal in northwest Florida, the beat of the 3,500-subscriber weekly in High Springs, near Gainesville:

...I thought about one of the stories in the very issue that was in the rack on the ground. We published the story about two prominent residents pushing for local businesses to stop advertising in The Herald because these residents didn't agree with the newspaper's editorial stance. (Two local leaders call for boycott of Herald)

In short, because the paper didn't reflect their opinion, they were pushing to effectively put The Herald out of business. This has far-reaching implications, by the way. You cannot work to silence somebody because you don't agree with them.

Yet, as I stood there that night, with my son clutching my side, the businessman yelled, "Let this be a lesson to all newspapers! We won't put up with this anymore."

If newspapers are silenced, who's next? And for what reasons? Does somebody have a right to try to put you out of business because you say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas?" Can campaigns be organized against you or your business because you supported a certain candidate or because you support a particular view?

And before you say, "Oh, that can't happen," look at what has happened already to The Herald. And The Herald is not the only local paper to undergo this. A few years ago, Alachua County Today had to repair multiple racks that were vandalized in a particular way, clearly by someone who was upset with that paper's views and coverage.

And let's not forget that not too long ago, a pipe bomb was delivered to The Herald.

This is not a paper out of touch with its conservative community. From that earlier story, the threat to boycott the paper was over its Web site's online comments and,

He said the paper sensationalizes events, and for an example, he pointed to the paper's coverage of Paul Marteny, the local resident charged with mailing cyanide to the FBI.

"I felt like you were criminalizing him instead of saying he was sick," Shupe said.

More about the comments brouhaha: Editorial: Man called 'coward' by Herald reveals himself

Dupont, obviously shaken by the latest incident, declined to press charges against the businessman whom he considered a friend. Instead, he tries to take the issue to higher ground:

To counteract this new attitude of "my way or else," community leaders should be pushing for inclusion and should be encouraging all sorts of ideas, regardless of whether they agree with them.

They should be forming citizen groups instead of dissolving them.

They should be celebrating the diversity that High Springs offers. The best way for any elected body to create new laws is to encourage debate, even if it's controversial and painful at times.

As most elected leaders will tell you, an idea usually ends up being a better idea after all sorts of input is sought, including input from those opposed to the idea.

By wary of any politician or resident who says they want to "unify" the community. Always ask yourself, "Unify under whose ideas?"

Lockstep thinking, and the pressure to enforce it, eats away at the foundations of democracy. Kudos to Mr. Dupont for standing up for it in his small town.