The Editor's Desk

A reader wrote today asking how Gerald Ford was chosen to replace Spiro Agnew as vice president. "Perhaps you can include that information in some of the many inches you will be devoting to President Ford this week," she suggested. (She added, I’m happy to note: "Good job covering Kline vs Foulston.")

I forwarded the email to wire editor Richard Murphy, and he had this response:

"In case we don’t find a way to get the information in the paper I wanted to at least let you know how it happened. According to published reports, when Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned in a bribery scandal in October 1973, Ford was one of four finalists to succeed him along with Texan John Connally, New York’s Nelson Rockefeller and California’s Ronald Reagan. ‘Personal factors enter into such a decision,’ President Nixon recalled for a Ford biographer in 1991. ‘I knew all of the final four personally and had great respect for each one of them, but I had known Jerry Ford longer and better than any of the rest.

‘We had served in Congress together. I had often campaigned for him in his district,’ Nixon continued. Two Democrats, House Speaker Carl Albert and Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield, were instrumental in Ford’s selection, telling Nixon that of all the potential candidates, Ford would have the easiest time being confirmed. Ford also was pushed by moderates inside the Nixon administration. So Ford became the first vice president appointed under the 25th amendment to the Constitution.

Theresa

Travis Heying won our most recent in-house photo contest with his brilliant image of snow geese landing at Quivira Wildlife Refuge, in front of the setting sun.

How did he get the winning photo? By looking straight into the sun, something none of us should do.

Here’s how Travis explains his approach.

"I shot the photo of the snow geese in front of the sun by using a really long lens to fill the frame with the image of the sun. In this case, I used a 400mm lens with a 1.4x extender.

"The hardest thing about shooting the picture was trying not to burn my eyes while doing it. I kept my face about two to three inches away from the viewfinder and used a little guesswork to frame the photo.

"I used the review monitor on the back of the camera to check the exposure and framing. To do it properly, and safely, welding goggles would come in handy. The sun is literally that bright when you look at it through a long lens like that."

Fortunately, Travis retained his vision to shoot another day. He used good judgment, made a great photo, and offered sound advice for the rest of us.

On his next assignment, though, he may be carrying a pair of welding goggles, just in case.

Arlice

It’s good to have a plan.
After Molly McMillin, our aviation/aerospace reporter, first reported on Nov. 23 that three groups were bidding to buy Raytheon Aircraft, we started getting ready for the inevitable sale. When Molly reported on Dec. 7 that a partnership involving Onex and Goldman Sachs was in exclusive negotiations with Raytheon officials, we put together a coverage plan of who would do what the day of the sale.

Here’s the only thing we didn’t plan on: Molly being out of town. She was in Florida to visit her son, Scott, the head basketball coach at Lynn University. Of course, even though she was on vacation, Molly was the first to call me at home Thursday morning to tell me the sale had gone through. She had arranged for Raytheon Aircraft officials to notify her when the sale happened. I relayed that information to Amanda O’Toole, who was working the early shift on Kansas.com, and she posted the initial wire story online.

With Molly gone, Jerry Siebenmark took over as lead reporter in the story. That included an exclusive interview with Raytheon Aircraft CEO Jim Schuster. Dusting off the plan we had put together, we deployed the rest of the Business team. Reporters Andi Atwater, Bill Wilson and Dan Voorhis (who is working on an analysis piece about the sale for Sunday’s Business section) all contributed to the effort. Photographer Dave Williams and graphic artist Mike Sullivan also played key roles, as did page designer Jarrod Evans. As with any big, breaking story, lots of other folks contributed behind the scenes to help pull the package together. It was a nice effort by a lot of people.

Tom Shine

A John Altevogt wrote to our publisher and members of our editorial board about our lack of coverage of an alleged incident involving a Nativity set that had been set up outside a local women’s clinic by an anti-abortion group. A press release we received from Operation Rescue last week alleged that a clinic employee had taken down a plastic Nativity set and moved it behind a fence near the clinic. Operation Rescue’s president summoned police, and the set was recovered. It is now again on display on public property outside the clinic, according to the press release we received.

Mr. Altevogt was upset not only that we had not run a story on this, but also that local authorities had not pressed charges. " I was looking for a report of an arrest (something that happens to most thieves when they get caught), but nothing there either," he wrote.

"Way to censor the news," he went on to say.

I’ll take responsibility for our response to this. Had this occurred anywhere else in the city, outside someone’s home (between neighbors perhaps with a history of feuding) or at another place of business, my response would have been the same. The display was recovered and was not damaged. Police did not make an arrest and no charges have been filed.

Police are called to settle disputes all over Wichita every day, some obviously newsworthy, some not so much. At The Eagle, we sort through lots of information to decide what merits space in our paper and what does not. While I respect that those involved felt strongly about the Nativity scene on display and the fact that it was moved, I determined that because the dispute ended quickly and peacefully, it was unlikely to be of broad interest for our general readership.

Theresa

A reader named Steve objected to a story we ran last Saturday written by Linda Shrieves of the Orlando Sentinel. The story ran in our Faith & Values section under the headline "Is there an inner racist in all whites?" "The mere fact that the Eagle stooped so low as to publish this article speaks volumes about your beliefs," Steve wrote. "This article is inflammatory and groundless. It appears that you like most of the media are simply looking for some means to stir up trouble. Can you not find something good, positive or uplifting to write about?"

We often publish positive stories in The Eagle, and as a matter of fact, our Faith & Values editor, Tom Schaefer, wrote a very uplifting column that appeared on the same page as Shrieve’s piece. That said, I asked Tom to share his thoughts as to why he chose to run the piece about racism:

"The story was in reaction to a high-profile incident of prejudicial remarks by actor Michael Richards, who played Kramer on the TV show “Seinfeld.” Richards’ rant at some African Americans in a comedy club audience spurred discussion nationwide about whether he was racist or simply lashing out in rage.

"A professor of sociology at Texas A&M University, who has spent decades studying race and racism, contended in this article that there is an inner racism in all white people. He also traced the history of white people’s attitudes and actions toward black people, a history that is riddled with savagery and sadness. He contends that white Americans have learned not to make racist comments in public but will in small groups of friends or family use racist language and tell racist jokes. Others in the story disputed his findings, but the issue deserved examination in light of the Richards’ incident.

"The Faith & Values section of The Eagle, which ran the story, was an appropriate place to look at a values issue such as racial prejudice and to consider its impact on society in general.

"In addition, a test set up by Harvard University was noted in the section, allowing readers to go online to examine their attitudes. The issue of racism, sadly, is not new, but it does warrant ongoing scrutiny to see whether we as a society are progressing toward greater understanding of those who are different from us, including those of different races, ethnic groups and religions. That examination, we trust, is not meant to inflame prejudices but to provide a basis for coming to grips with a sordid past that still reverberates in society. If that story in The Eagle caused readers to think about their attitudes toward those of another race, and to consider whether they harbor prejudicial feelings, then we trust it served a useful purpose."

Theresa