Our copy editor Leslie Parsons is blogging about getting to know the Middlesex County community at Middlesex Treks.

Court reporter Walt Gogolya offers movie reviews at the Courthouse Critic.

And I'm sure you've all seen our MP Bookclub blog, available HERE.

If you enjoy food, cooking and exchanging ideas, check out Live to Eat.

Or you can follow the adventures of Photo Editor Catherine Avalone at The Photo Club.

Our website comments have been a hot topic since we removed comment moderation in 2009.

Readers are able to leave a comment on pretty much any story at www.middletownpress.com, and the comment appears immediately and allows others to respond right away.

This provides a forum for local discussion, and over the past year, discussions have taken off on any number of topics. We believe providing this forum is an important part of keeping the community engaged in what is going on.

But not everyone plays by the rules. We frequently see nasty comments, obscene words or hateful remarks. Our guidelines prohibit these comments, and we remove them when we see them. However, with more than 200 comments per day on some stories, we cannot monitor every story every hour of every day.

This is where YOU come in. We expect the readers to help us monitor the site. By clicking "Report Abuse" underneath the inappropriate comment, our editors (myself included) will immediately be sent an e-mail alert and can take the comment down.

We have also set up a system on our staff where everyone has been assigned a specific hour of the day to go in an check out the comments BEFORE they become a problem or get reported.

While there are things we could do with our site - anything from pre-approving comments to requiring registration - we find that these options would kill the debate, limit free speech and would not do enough to limit inappropriate comments as anyone can set up a fake e-mail account or register with a fake name.

In terms of liability - we frequently get complaints that say "how could YOU publish this???" - I have to refer to the Communications Decency Act, which provides immunity to operators of websites for allegedly defamatory content provided by third parties.

As long as the staff of The Middletown Press does not go in to edit the comments, or respond to comments that are inappropriate or defamatory while choosing to leave them up on the website, or in other ways exercise substantial editorial control over the comments posted, we are not responsible for the comments, the law says.

However, we will do our due diligence and to remove inappropriate comments in as timely a manner as possible. We may not always be aware that they are posted unless you bring them to our attention.

Anyone who has a problem with a particular story or comment is welcome to contact us here at the office and we will look at the story or comment immediately. Until then, happy commenting, and keep it appropriate!

Pieces of red plastic and unidentifiable metal scraps lie next to a bunch of flowers, candles and a giant teddy bear.

Here, outside the Fleetwood Auto building on Middlefield Street in Middletown, two young men lost their lives Saturday night.

Those grieving Ryan Weckesser and Nathan Bushnell have covered the entire wall of the building Nathan's Ford Mustang crashed into with memories and tributes, photos, poems, cards and balloons.

As I stopped at the site Wednesday evening, an older couple was just leaving in a gray sedan. While some drivers were flying by down Middlefield Street, most passers-by slowed down significantly to look at the memories left behind by those who cared deeply about the victims.

Some drivers bowed their heads while passing, others just turned to look at this wall of grief.

A woman and two girls came walking up the road, the girls carrying one tulip each. As the girls carefully placed the tulips near the candles, the woman leaned forward to read the notes posted on a pole and looked at some photographs of Ryan and Nathan with their friends.

We've written about many car crashes in the past few months - all of them very tragic. But this one, for some reason, is different. It's like the entire community knew the victims in this crash, and those who didn't are still sharing the pain.

I sat there in my car - observing from a distance - and wondered how long it will take for these brothers, sisters, friends and parents to feel like things have gone "back to normal."

I bet it never will.

If you go to our home page, www.middletownpress.com, you will notice a new feature: an interactive online calendar.

While the staff of The Middletown Press will add events here that we hear of, we count on YOU - the reader - to tell us what is going on in YOUR community! This is your chance to be in charge!

You will have access to add any event you want to promote, whether it be a pasta supper, a community meeting or a fund-raiser for your child's Little League team. All we ask is that you stay clear of advertising things for sale or special promotions for a business and that you stick to events in Middlesex County, our local coverage area.

We want this to be a valuable asset to all our readers, so please start entering events happening in your area!

As soon as you enter an event, our staff will receive an e-mail and this event will also be added to our print calendar on Page A2 of The Middletown Press.

The Associated Press Stylebook is like the Holy Bible for newspaper reporters and copy editors. Every so often, the AP comes up with changes to well-established style rules.

Ten years ago, for example, the word online was hyphenated, "on-line." This changed as the word became more common in the English language due to the popularity of the Internet.

This week, AP is changing the way it refers to pages on the World Wide Web. It used to be "Web site," (two words, capital "W" for Web) but will now become "website" (one word, no capitalization).

Perhaps this seems more natural to some, since most people write about websites this way. For us here in the newsroom, however, it will take some time getting used to.

The Middletown Press and Walmart were honored yesterday at the weekly Kiwanis Club meeting in Middletown for their contributions to the annual Warm the Children campaign.

This year, we helped raise $57,000 to buy winter clothing for children in the Middletown area.

Mack Stewart, second from left, is the organizer of the campaign and also takes several children out shopping with their parents. All shopping is done at Walmart, and the store then sends the bill to the campaign so no cash has to change hands.

This past winter, there was a greater need than ever for children in the area to receive warm clothes, and The Middletown Press is proud to have been able to help with the campaign by providing free advertising space in its print product. Next year, we hope to also be able to provide online space for Warm the Children in order to raise awareness of the campaign.

You may have heard me on the radio Friday afternoon as Ed McKeon of The Middletown Eye hosted his weekly "Eye on the Air" show at WESU, 88.1. I was the second guest of his half-hour show, and we spoke about the changing newspaper industry and The Middletown Press. (His show is on every Friday from 1 to 2 p.m.)

Today, I stopped by WMRD up on River Road to record some new radio spots touting the happenings in our newspaper and on the web. So you will soon be able to hear my voice on the radio several times a week at 1150-AM, if you tune in to listen frequently.

And once we hire our new morning journalist, you will be able to hear that person on the air every morning giving you an update on today's news and what's happening in Middlesex County.

Listen to EYE ON THE AIR from April 9 HERE.

Executive Director Debby Shapiro took me on a wonderful tour of the Middlesex County Historical Society last Friday.

It was raining, and I couldn't wait to get inside as I stood on the steps outside the General Mansfield House at 151 Main St., eagerly ringing the doorbell.

Debby welcomed me inside and told me all about the history of this town, from its early shipping days to the highlights of manufacturing and famous people from the area. She showed me the current Civil War exhibit and the memorial wall of all local soldiers who died. The society also has a small collection of weapons from the war, some of which were made right here in the city.

I learned about a lead mine in the area of River Road, and of secret meetings as part of the underground railroad.

I also found out that the church next to O'Rourke's Diner is facing the wrong way on Main Street, since it was moved from another location many years ago but not turned accordingly.

If you have a moment, you should really stop by the historical society yourself to meet Debby. The society is open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays and from 10 a.m. to noon on Fridays.

Or you can WATCH THE VIDEO HERE.

Today I had the pleasure of meeting Don Pesci, his wife and their dog during one of our community meetings. Well, we technically met after the meeting since it ended a few minutes early.

Pesci and his wife found their way up to the fourth floor of the Main Street Market to say hello. For those of you who don't know, Pesci is a regular columnist in our newspaper and several others across the state.

He also runs a blog, called Connecticut Commentary: Red Notes from a Blue State.

Tomorrow, I am going to be at a Starbuck's in West Hartford for a community meeting there, since we also run the West Hartford News out of our office here in Middletown.

My head is spinning from reading the Middletown mayor's budget now for an hour. I'm trying to help reporter Hannah Vahl decipher the highlights of the budget and by calculating the proposed salary increases for all the top positions.

However, I constantly get stuck on little things like the city wanting to spend $20,000 on police psychologicals. What are they, and why do they cost so much? Especially when there was only $9,500 budgeted for them last year.

And why does the city expect to spend $30,000 less on gas this year in the finance category when fuel oil is going up by $20,000 and natural gas by $15,000?

And who spends $3,900 a year on envelopes? That's gotta be a place where the city can save money in today's electronic age.

So many questions. Hopefully we will be able to ask the mayor some of them soon.

And here's a question for you. If you got to sit down with the Middletown mayor, what would you ask?

A big thank you to everyone who came out to see us this week as the staff of The Middletown Press held four community meetings.

I learned about a golf course in Middletown I never knew existed and a third-party candidate running for state Senate. I also learned that many community members would be happy to submit material to us - they just didn't know they were allowed to.

There were some other important lessons as well in trying to set up these meetings. The fact that the Ford News Diner closes at 2 p.m., for example, which I should have remembered. This forced us to rearrange a meeting and move it last minute to Javapalooza down the street.

But no worries! We will schedule a breakfast meeting soon at the diner.

In Portland, I found out that a couple of guys apparently tried to get free lunch at the Portland Restaurant by showing up in suits saying they were from The Middletown Press. Too bad they picked the wrong day - I would have like to see who they were.

For those of you who work during the day, I will hold a special meeting this Tuesday, April 6, at Fusion Bakery inside the Main Street Market from 5 to 6 p.m.

Ed McKeon from The Middletown Eye has also asked me to be on his radio show on Friday, April 9, at 1:30 p.m. at WESU, 88.1 FM. We will most likely talk about changes in the newspaper industry and changes at The Middletown Press.

And, of course, anyone with questions or concerns can e-mail me directly at vsundqvist@middletownpress.com