Suffice to say a community newspaper gets its fair share of complaints. It comes with the territory.

Some are deserved and others, well, it’s sometimes just easy to seek to take a pound of flesh from the messenger than to put the blame where it belongs.

Few complaints, a very few, come from a source that seem to have the greater interest of the community at heart, not merely their own personal agendas.

Bill Slatter was one of those unique individuals. He had the ability to rip our work to the core in a very succinct, but clearly well intentioned manner.

Sadly, Bill died last week, and only after his death did I truly appreciate how great of a man he was.

The first time I met Bill was around 1999 or 2000. He was recruited to join the newspaper’s reader advisory group. The aim of the group was to gauge reader feedback on a variety of newspaper topics.

When Bill came to the meetings, the conversation took on a much more serious, much more direct tone.

You see Bill took his work seriously, even if it was volunteering on the board. He would bring clippings of the newspaper with notes and questions about what he didn’t understand or what he felt we could improve upon.

He had the uncanny ability to ask a tough question — and excellent follow-ups — and do so with a smile on his face and a glimmer in his eye that made you feel challenged, but still respected.

At the time all I knew of Bill was that he had “worked in radio and TV” for a while.

He was semi-retired at the time, but still did consulting work.

Through the years, I appreciated Bill’s forthrightness, but also his ability to simply care enough to ask questions. Too often, we all are quick to complain, but lax in seeking solutions.

Later I learned Bill was no mere “radio and TV guy” but a highly accomplished professional, who started his work in Natchez, but whose career took him around the country as both a newsman and ultimately a TV news talent scout and coach.

I cannot help but compare Bill to another, unnamed, man I first met many years ago.

They were the complete opposites.

The anti-Bill was quick to say, “I’m a big shot in this town.”

I’d bet a million bucks that Bill Slatter never uttered any such a phrase. But he was, indeed, a big shot in the TV news world. Perhaps one of his most famous interviews was unique, historically. While working at WDSU-TV in New Orleans, Bill managed to snag the only TV interview with Lee Harvey Oswald. The interview occurred just a few months before Oswald assassinated President John F. Kennedy in Dallas.

Despite his age, experience and long and distinguished career, Bill never seemed to lose his curiosity in people and in the place he called home.

His stepdaughter Marsha Colson said he always had to have a project to keep him busy. One of his last was a series of videotaped interviews with Natchez area veterans. He made nearly 40 of them.

I was lucky enough to see several of these when he showed them publicly. The videos were not overly slick and polished, the sound wasn’t crystal clear and they had a simple, documentary style. But that’s what made them so interesting to me. They were real and Bill’s direct, unabashed approach rang through as his voice was heard saying, “Is that right? Tell me about that.”

He worked the way he lived, interested, concerned and caring.

Many, many people will miss you, Bill; you’ll not soon be forgotten.

Kevin Cooper is publisher of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3539 or kevin.cooper@natchezdemocrat.com.