April 16, 2003
Well, I got some good nominations for the name of the painting (see painting on April 14). Here’s a few from Julie in Wyoming: “Earp Girls Are Easy. I'm thinking Chicken Little also, The Earps Are Falling! The Earps Are Falling! Attack of the Killer Earps. When Earps Ruled the Earth. Invasion of the Earp Snatchers. Close Encounters of the Earp Kind. Star Wars, Return of the Earps, The Earps Strike Back. Is this enough?” Yes.

Meghan chose “Earpageddon.”

Challenged with a tricky ethical situation yesterday. Involved a controversial photo and a friend of ours who owns it.. With the help of Jana B., Meghan S. and R.G. I think we did the right thing. We had compromised the article somewhat because of our relationship with our friend. After some strong debate (we went to lunch and talked about it in depth) we decided to back up and rewrite the piece as we would if we didn’t know him. Jana rewrote it and I faxed it to him (we normally don’t do that, but he is a friend and we felt he should at least see it before everyone else. We also knew he could pull the photo but we took that risk.).Our friend wasn’t thrilled with some of the items in the piece but he signed off on them. I feel good that we did the right thing. Worked out fine. Was touch and go for awhile. One of those gray areas where friendship and journalism ethics collide.

"The lessons taught in great books are misleading. The commerce in life is rarely so simple and never so just."
 —Anita Brookner