"It may very well be a wonderful thing, but for it to all of a sudden take a huge part of our budget without more oversight, I'm not sure it's the right thing to do," he said.

Board member Bob Bonar, however, described the insert as "a very worthwhile piece, an important part of the mix, so I'm very supportive of it."

"I like it. I think it's effective. And if we do it, I'd like to consider not only doing some type of spring mailing for the summer, but a fall mailing for the winter. I think it's a good piece," Bonar said.

The board also approved keeping up to $250,000 from the co-op fund available for "special opportunities," although the board has not determined how to define that term.

"I think defining 'special opportunities' is going to be really tough because 'special opportunities' means a lot to a lot of different people," Stokes said.

McClelland described the varying viewpoints as "part of the democratic process we have."

"The issue is not whether to spend the $500,000 or not. Everyone has been very up-front that that money is most effective for us out in the marketplace working," he said, adding that board members simply had differing opinions on how that should be done.

"Nobody is taking this issue lightly. ... This is not a north-versus-south issue, it's not an east-versus-west issue. It's how do we most effectively get this money in the marketplace," McClelland said.

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E-mail: bwallace@desnews.com