This week I cannot thank my lucky stars. Eugenia Last’s astrological forecast in the Friday edition of The Salt Lake
Tribune was the same as Thursday’s. Lucky stars were in short supply here at the paper.
And, boy, did you sharp-eyed readers ever notice.
The reader advocate — a Pisces of extreme, sensitive and unusual character, who wants to do the right thing, and yet
must follow that tiny voice within for good or bad, who would love to float and fantasize about the newsroom using
charm, innate humor and a face full of empathy to make up for a certain shyness of nature — was forced to listen to
strident reality from readers who could not prepare for life Friday using Thursday’s advice.
What terrible things you wanted to do to this gentle person of the fish persuasion. Please reconsider all those threats.
Imagine what they are doing to your karmic progression. Perhaps if I sniff some lavender now I can settle myself down.
Editor James E. Shelledy, a Scorpio — intense, emotional and possessive, according to Last’s Web site,
www.eugenialast.com — considers this horoscope stuff to be balderdash as he struts and frets his hour upon the
newsroom, overworking and seeking perfection according to his sign’s proclivity.
Despite his scorpion penchant for blurting the truth, caring little for the consequences, he understands that some gentle
readers need to know if you are having a 1-star or a 5-star day before venturing out.
The computer-wise people, Gordon Harman and Chris McDonald, generally running around and sweating about the
hardware and software that allow us to put out a daily newspaper, lately have been putting together the new comics section
of the paper complete with its accompanying puzzles, horoscope, bridge column and other brain teasers.
Changes in comics and mind-teasers in this evolving section (which we believe near evolvement) have made assembling
this section more time-consuming than usual.
Shelledy has fine-tuned this three-page section as readers expressed concerns. Some mistakes, according to the stars,
were bound to happen. (No readers called, however, the day we ran the comic Gasoline Alley in Spanish.) Made aware of
the astrological duplication, the Harman-McDonald team pledge greater diligence in the future. (It must have been a 0-star
day for poor Gemini Chris McDonald, who offers his most abject apology.)
Meanwhile, if this ever happens again — a circumstance in which The Trib casts your horoscope to the wind and gives
you the same prognosis two days in a row — you can get Ms. Last’s daily horrorscope on line at
www.ucomics.com/lastwordinastrology/
Simply Contempt: Dozens of readers called and sent e-mail this week about “too many Mormon stories on the front
page of The Tribune.”
Some readers felt all stories having to do with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints should go in the Body
and Soul section in Saturday’s Tribune. Others thought they all should go in the Deseret News.
Here’s a special note for those readers: Wake up and smell the Postum. On the two weekends every year when the LDS
church has its conference in downtown Salt Lake City, The Trib is going to cover the activities and speeches given. This
newspaper has covered the conferences since it was founded 123 years ago — always with at least some front page
stories on the people and the talks featured.
Nothing has changed. The Deseret News is not psychically controlling content of The Trib.
In other instances, such as the ruling this week by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals on the American Civil Liberties
Union suit against the LDS church over free speech on that “Little Bit of Paris” where Main Street used to butt into North
Temple, The Tribune put the news on the front page, because it is front-page news. It is a major story.
If you are a reader who despises persons of a particular sex, race, religion or nation of origin and you want The Trib to
ignore said group, do not bother calling or writing me. You will get no sympathy here.
The world of The Salt Lake Tribune is a large one, populated by people of many colors, many creeds and many
nationalities, each deserving of attention.
_________
The Reader Advocate’s phone number is 801-257-8782. Write to the Reader Advocate, The Salt Lake Tribune, P.O.
Box 867, Salt Lake City, Utah 84110. reader.advocate@sltrib.com
