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Back in April 2025, we told you about Dave Holman, a 71-year-old Guilford resident whose op ed was rejected by the Guilford Courier even though it was based on provable facts.

The Managing Editor of Shore Publishing (which owns the Courier), Laura Robida, cited “inaccurate information” as the reason for the rejection.

Holman gave sources to back up his claims, but his letter still got rejected.

"The sources you’ve provided—such as The Epoch Times and the Connecticut Centinel—do not meet our standards for reliable, fact-based journalism. These outlets have been widely identified as promoters of misinformation and conspiracy theories, including discredited narratives related to COVID-19, election integrity, and extremist political ideologies," wrote Robida in April.

Holman began to worry that he would be permanently banned from submitting letters.

He was right to be concerned.

In fact, he just found out he has been banned from making submissions.

How he found out about the ban was the real kicker -- Holman responded to a request for help from his 88-year-old friend and military veteran, Peter Connal, who wanted to write an op ed, but lacked the technology skills. He asked Holman for help to type the letter into a word document, save it, and attach it to an email to submit to Shore Publishing, knowing that Holman had previously, successfully submitted op eds to the paper. Holman gladly helped his friend submit the letter on August 25th.

Connal's letter got rejected 31 minutes after it was submitted.

"We are unable to publish your recent letter submission entitled 'Guilford Can Do Better.'," wrote Special Publications Editor Alicia Gomez.

She said the metadata identified during the "standard editorial review process" had identified Dave's wife as "both the original author and last editor of the document."

"This, along with the letter’s formatting and style — which match previously banned submissions from Dave Holman — suggests that the letter did not originate from you," Gomez continued.

"As you know, we cannot accept letters that are written by one individual but submitted under another person’s name. Doing so circumvents our letters policy and misrepresents authorship to our readers," continues Gomez. "For these reasons, we will not be publishing this letter. Please be aware that if we receive any further submissions under your name that are authored by someone other than yourself, we will be unable to accept any future letters from you."

Holman was shocked and horrified that Connal's op ed got rejected simply because the 88-year-old asked Holman for technology help.

Holman contacted the paper to express his frustration over the incident, pointing out that their "disdain" for him "should have nothing to do with Pete" who is also an active member of the American Legion and Republican Town Committee, has volunteered at the Guilford Information Booth and Connecticut Hospice, and has been a long-time mentor in the Guilford School System.

Not only that, but the paper has apparently refused to acknowledge any recent email and phone communications from Holman, and declined to publish the last four letters he submitted to the paper.

"Your censorship and unprofessionalism have been stunning," wrote Holman who described the Courier's behavior toward Connal as "despicable."

Connal's letter was the kind of letter one would normally expect to see during municipal election season -- an endorsement for a fellow Republican -- nothing crazy or controversial, just facts that Guilford residents should rightly be able to consider before the upcoming municipal election.

We here at the Connecticut Centinal were happy to publish Connal's letter and allow him to have a voice.

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