image_pdfimage_print

In these days of a tough economy and tight wallets, Carol and I pride ourselves on going the extra mile for all of our readers and advertisers. I try to make sure the word gets out about SFHN, connecting clients, supporting worthy causes, while Carol makes sure we actually have a paper to produce, handling the editorial side of things. (For some reason, Carol feels my inability to spell “cat” precludes me from that side of things.) But recently, she needed some outside assistance in corralling a willing but recalcitrant interviewee, who for the purposes of anonymity, we shall call Tom.

As anyone who has watched Law & Order knows, the beginning of each episode starts with this disclaimer: “The following story is fictional and does not depict any actual person or event.”

Well, consider this Publishers Note to have NO such disclosure. In fact, this is like an episode of Dragnet with its equally famous tagline: “Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.” (Or in this case — the guilty.)

You see Tom was an important part of one of this month’s feature articles. Although a willing participant in the interview process, Carol just couldn’t pin him down long enough to fact-check his quotes, etc. Hence, it was coming up to press time and Carol was getting a little frantic about his article. So Carol decided it was time to pull out her secret weapon, a man who thinks nothing of driving all over South Florida to meet and greet clients and readers, in short her “hired gun” – me.

So I jumped in the car (another great reason to have a Hybrid) and headed north. In Tom’s defense when I showed up unannounced, he took it in good humor and actually did have the material in his In Basket. (Of course, I think Carol’s last e-mail threatening bodily harm for non-compliance might also have had some effect.) But, as instructed, I planted myself in front of his desk and came away with the article ready to go to press.

So what are the morals of this story? 1. Like the Royal Canadian Mounties, we always get our man; 2. Like Avis – we try harder (but we’re not #2); and 3. You can run, but you cannot hide from Carol.

Charles Felix, Publisher