Puzzle problem is perplexing to all

Our editor, Tim Kelly, has been known to say that we perform a miracle every day. That’s not in any way meant to be sacrilegious or elevate our jobs to the level of people who save, or change, lives as their professional calling.

What that means is, there’s a lot of room for error in what we do.

Every story is filled with details, times, locations, names . . . we print stories filled with numbers, ages, phone numbers, addresses, dollar amounts. And, we work on computers, where one wrong keystroke can spellcheck an oddly spelled name into oblivion. So every day, we do our best to get every detail right, then hand our work to a successive line of other employees who also do their best to get it right and get it to our customers.

It IS a miracle. Sometimes it feels more miraculous than others.

And sometimes it feels like a train wreck.

Friday was one of those days. I was barely in the door of the building when I got the news. We ran Thursday’s crossword and a couple of other puzzles again . . . in Friday’s paper. The message light on my phone was glowing red as I set about checking, noting and responding to the angry readers who missed their puzzles.

As I wrote in a memo to the supervisor of those responsible for the error, “I think copy editors would be surprised to hear the depth of emotion that readers have for our regular features such as the puzzles. I think they need to know when they make mistakes such as these that they not only waste valuable news space and cause our newspaper embarrassment, but they make customers quite unhappy with our product.”

Some callers were nice about their complaint, just wanting to make sure we knew about it. Others threatened cancellation and called our staff members names like “stupid” and “irresponsible.”

I assure you they are neither. They are simply human.

That doesn’t make their error excusable, it just makes it more understandable, and hopefully, forgivable.

Our miracle was less than perfect today. Mea Culpa.

Oh, and for those of you who might have had a Friday night dinner riding on the resolution of Thursday’s Jumble, the answers to the jumbles were: WIPED, MINOR, NOTIFY and CONCUR. The answer to the question was: Naturally, the organizer did this when he got married – FORMED A “UNION.”

Newspaper services continue to evolve

Less than a week ago, BeaumontEnterprise.com changed the way in which on-line readers access obituary information. We’d like to think we made it better.

A couple of readers have complained about the format, but overall, the response has been pretty underwhelming. Most readers have apparently accepted it and moved on.

Much of life today involves change and keeping up with it. That’s particularly true in any business environment and newspapers are no exception. When I came to work at The Enterprise we worked on typewriters – with carbon paper – still had an AP wire machine in the newsroom and had black and white pictures on the front page every day.

Thank goodness we’ve changed.

The new on-line obituary format comes to BeaumontEnterprise.com readers through a service called Legacy. We explained a bit about it in an article in this past Sunday’s newspaper.

As the story explains, the service allows on-line readers to view obituaries for up to 30 days at no charge, finding that information either by date or name. It also offers all manner of enhanced service to our customers, including on-line guest books and the opportunity to post photographs or even audio tributes to the dearly departed.

I suspect resistance to the change has, in part, to do with unfamiliarity.

Clicking on the Obituaries link on our Web page no longer brings up all the obituaries for that day. Instead it brings up a list of names.

To view those obituaries, simply click on the link below the list that says, “Browse full text of obituaries.”

From that point, if you want to see obituaries published prior to that day, click on the box at the top that says, “Modify your search.” That allows readers to select obituaries from the last seven days, last 30 days, last 60 days – or a specific date range. That function also allows searching by name or keyword. The keyword search would allow readers to find obituaries of special interest by searching for words such as: Army, Masonic, Baptist, Kirbyville . . . or whatever term of interest might pull up the selected information.

The site even has an enhanced area spotlighting obituaries of regional or national interest, such as that of Lady Bird Johnson. The same area has information on the deaths of service men and women killed in action and a section on the 9-11 tragedy that could provide educational enhancement to those who might have been too young at the time to remember our nation’s greatest tragedy.

There IS a charge for some of the services, such as archived obituaries more than 30 days old or photographic tributes posted in perpetuity. BeaumontEnterprise.com readers, however, still get everything they had in the previous format . . . and much more.

That was our purpose: to offer more, not less, of the information our readers want.

World of words continues to unfold

Writers love words. Though that’s a generalization, in my experience it holds fairly true.

We may not be walking dictionaries, but we’re picky about our words, maybe even obsessive in our compulsion to find the perfect words to precisely convey our messages.

So, obviously, this story sharing information about new words – not simple colloquialisms or pop culture jargon, but REAL new words, caught my attention.

Professionally, the attention-getter for me was the word sudoku. The Asian-inspired number puzzles were barely a blip on the radar two years ago when they became part of The Enterprise – on Sept. 6, 2005. Now our world includes all manner of sudoku puzzle books, electronic sudoku games and more.

If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, check it our on our daily puzzle page, generally in the “B” section of your printed Enterprise, or check the page 1 index of the printed newspaper for “Puzzles.”

They ARE challenging, sure to keep the blood flowing and those brain synapses zapping. My one piece of advice for novices – don’t be arrogant, use a pencil . . . with an eraser.

Beyond that professional interest, I also have a favorite among Webster’s 100 new words: ginormous.

My (and maybe the world’s) first exposure to the word came in the now almost classic Christmas movie, “Elf” starring Will Ferrell as Buddy the, well . . . elf.

Having been raised at the North Pole with Santa and the other elves, his world was somewhat limited and his charm very childlike . . . thus his comment in viewing his first “normal” toilet was that it was “ginormous.”

A silly movie, undoubtedly . . . and I’m not a big Will Ferrell fan, but the moment and the movie obviously held great public interest. And, the word is now – officially – part of our language.

So, where will the next word come from . . . a puzzle, a movie, a genre of music? That’s part of the fascination of our language. While we’re waiting, ponder this more complete list of new choices from Webster, sure to enhance your vocabulary, if not provide some amusement.

Good headline trumps sensitivity

The lead headline on the front page of today’s Beaumont Enterprise says, “From Vidor run to phony gun.” It’s a good, if not great, headline. It summarizes at least two aspects of the complicated story, flows well, has great rhythm and even a couple of rhyming words. There’s a strong possibility that it will win headline competitions statewide and nationally because the copy editor who wrote it has an outstanding track record for contest-winning headlines.

Had the facts of the story been appropriate, “From Silsbee run to phony gun” would have made an equally good headline. No, we wouldn’t have put Lumberton or Port Neches in the headline because it wouldn’t have fit the rhythm, though we might have used Orange or Bridge City or even Newton if those towns had fit the facts of the story.

Thus far, one person has called to complain about the headline besmirching the good name of the city of Vidor because of one “lunatic that has run wild.” I’m sure others are thinking the same thing.

The caller referred to the headline as a “cheap shot made to gather attention and hurt people.” He called it “degrading and hurtful to the community,” and said he was personally hurt over it.

I have one thing to say to that caller. Me too.

But we need to get over it.

Yes, I live in Vidor. I’ve fought both sides of this battle for decades. I can tell you authoritatively that we (Vidorians) are wrong. The Enterprise is NOT picking on Vidor.

Take a look at today’s headline again. It refers to “Vidor run,” a 2004 situation that locked down two schools and a day care center on Texas 12 when this same fugitive as on the run in that area. There’s nothing negative about Vidor in that situation except that the man lived there and chose to flee there. That’s no more of a reflection on Vidor than the fact that Saddam Hussein having lived in Iraq is a reflection on the whole country of Iraq and all its citizens.

Does Vidor get negative publicity? No doubt, though a great deal of it has come from national media and the necessity of local coverage of their escapades.

Does Vidor get its share of positive stories? Overall, things are much better than they have been in the past, but, honestly, probably not. Unfortunately, too many people in Vidor perceive the media as the enemy, so those positive stories don’t get the attention they deserve.

A couple of years ago I organized a media relations seminar for a Vidor governmental group. Area media, print and electronic were represented in a panel discussion. A large percentage of those sitting on the panel actually lived in Vidor.

We, all of us, care about our city, but we can’t fight this battle alone. Those in Vidor who bristle every time the city’s name comes up in anything that isn’t totally positive HAVE to get that chip off their shoulder if they are going to move forward as a community. I'd love to lead that parade.

There’s not an editor, headline writer or reporter here who’s out to get Vidor or anyone who lives there. We’re just doing our jobs . . . reporting the news and writing good headlines.

Journalism takes a hit and 19 die

One of my biggest personal peeves is being labeled as part of the “liberal” media. Labeling all media as liberal is as ignorant, and as much of a cop-out, as labeling any other group by the characteristics of a few.

People who wouldn’t think of assigning labels for racial, religious or gender traits seem to find nothing wrong with assigning labels for professional association.

Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Am I liberal? Yes, on some issues (many of my co-workers are now laughing). Am I conservative? Yes, on some other issues (many of my family members are now laughing). Truth is, I am somewhere in the middle, as I suspect most of our readers are.

That fact established, the perception of the media as being liberal is now, at least in theory, partially responsible for the deaths of 19 servicemen in Afghanistan in June of 2005.

A new book, “Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10,” details the events as shared in this story.

Basically, four Navy Seals were faced with the tough decision about whether to kill or release three Afghan goat herders who, apparently inadvertently stumbled across their strategic military position. The Seals chose to take a chance and release the Afghans. According to the lone survivor of the four, concerns about how the “liberal” media might report their actions entered into their decision to release the goat herders, who included one boy of about 14.

Those goat herders then, obviously, reported the Seals’ position to the Taliban, resulting in the deaths of three, serious injury of one, and the deaths of 16 others who tried to rescue the group of Seals.

Members of the media didn’t pull the trigger, but those who continue to perpetuate the image of a liberal media – ironically frequently conservatives in the media – certainly fueled a decision that had tragic consequences.

I won’t be dragged into a political debate about what is right or wrong about these military actions as young men and women from across our country put their lives on the line every day. What I DO know is they deserve not to be second-guessed when faced with these dilemmas. Stereotyping – of the media or any other group – shouldn’t play a role in what are, literally, life and death decisions.