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VERNAL — Sometimes, not a lot changes in a small town. The buildings don’t look all that different from the way they did back in the day. Everyone kind of knows everyone and the local paper still catches a lot of eyes.
"(We're) very average for news," said Liberty Best, Managing Editor of the Vernal Express. "It depends on the day and depends on the hour."
Best said she doesn’t get many walk-ins to the newsroom. One day, a man came in and dropped off a letter to the editor.
"I could tell he was heartbroken over what he felt remorse over," Best said.
Not every letter to the editor gets people talking, but even in a town where nothing much changes, the letter was written to bring about change.
It reads:
"Dear Editor: The time has come in my life where the last chapter is being written. Before the back cover to this book closes, I would like to take this time and write this letter in hoping that it will reach the right people and that they might find some closure. I will be the first to admit that I have not been an angel by any means. I have done some things in my past that I am not proud of. I have reached a point in my life where I have seen the wrongdoings that I have done and how these wrongdoings have affected other people’s lives. All I can say is that I am sorry for what I have done. Before this last chapter is finished in my life I can at least have the chance to face these people in person and try to make things right. If I could turn back time and make things right, I would. I am sorry."
Vernal resident Rodney Withee wrote those words. He’s lived in Vernal since the early 80s, but lately hasn't been about to stop thinking about the number of people he has hurt throughout his life.
"About 50 or 60," Withee said with a heavy sigh.
He’s already apologized to many of them but wants to reach them all before it’s too late.
"My kidneys are starting to fail," he said. "I've got epilepsy, asthma and diabetes."
Withee said all those physical ailments are tough, but the most nagging pain is the need to apologize.
"It had to be done," he said. "Something just kept bugging me like you gotta do it, you gotta do it."
Not everyone can cry out for forgiveness up and down main street, but sometimes change has to happen, even if it’s just a change of heart.
"I can't change the past, but I can change the future and make it a better future," he said.
