One excuse for the misspelled �Fourth� in this July 5, 1919, paper might be the way headlines were composed at the time: one letter at a time, backwards (so the image would transfer to the paper correctly).

In rush to the news,
errors can crop up

Despite all precautions and diligence, daily journalism can mean almost daily mistakes.

The uncropped version of this photo showed murder suspect Clarence Jarrett � later convicted � making an obscene gesture. It ran, finger and all, on the front page Jan. 17, 1983.

Most are minor � a typo here, a computer slip-up there � but some have been doozies.

In 1982, The Journal ran an article about the release of Lee Harvey Oswald from prison, and his plans to write and lecture. Presumably, said retired reporter and editor Lou Giampetroni, the story was a �think piece� about what would have happened had Oswald lived.

�But there was no explanation, just a straight news story,� Giampetroni wrote in a note of his Journal recollections. �I can just imagine what the majority of readers thought.�

Oops.

Then there was the time we presented the new police emergency number in 1973: 732-9111. Atop the next day�s front page was the rather large correction: 732-9911. (Now, of course, 911 does the job.)

Some �errors� are a matter of perspective, or 20/20 hindsight � like the front-page editorial letter in 1982 urging the Mott Foundation to proceed with plans for AutoWorld.

�In retrospect, that was a mistake,� said Al Peloquin, editor at the time.

Another photo that shocked many and angered some (thought it amused others) was a 1995 picture of a roadkill possum that had been painted over with a double-yellow lane stripe.

Even within The Journal, decisions meet criticism. When deep snow and a county emergency declaration stopped The Journal from printing a newspaper Dec. 11, 2000, many were outraged.

Said Editor Paul Keep at the time: �A large portion of our newsroom would rather be publishing today.�

To Publisher Roger Samuel, deciding factors were employee safety and the barring of nonemergency vehicles from Genesee County roads.

�I think we have a responsibility to heed to state of emergency,� he said that morning.

All this talk of flubs would have incensed Journal reporter Blanche E. Simmons. The first woman hired to cover news, starting near the dawn of the 20th century, Simmons would defend her employer against any criticism, recalled Journal retiree Alice Lethbridge in a 1976 history.

�If your mistakes were put down in black and white,� Simmons would say earnestly, �you�d have to admit that you make some, too.�

� Jeff Johnston