By GARRICK FELDMAN
Leader executive editor
We’ve received lots of calls, comments and complaints over an error in Wednesday’s paper about a Christmas program in Cabot.
Two lines were unfortunately combined to make it appear that we’ve already announced the winner of the Cabot mayoral race.
The two lines in the Christmas program at city hall on Dec. 3-4 were supposed to read:
“Welcoming by incoming mayor
“Bill Cypert sings.”
The two lines somehow turned into one sentence and read: “Wel-coming and singing by incoming mayor Bill Cypert.”
Ouch.
Cypert is a mayoral candidate, along with former Mayor Stubby Stumbaugh and Alderman Eddie Cook, but unless you have a crystal ball, we have no idea who will win that race Nov. 2.
We didn’t mean to project the winner. We regret the error and want to thank all those careful readers who alerted us to the mistake.
Apologies to all concerned, including the Cabot Chamber of Commerce, which worked hard to get the word out.
The corrected program ap-pears in the box on this page, and we may just run it till the event takes place.
In this business, we make mistakes every day. Last Sunday, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette declared Stubby the incumbent. Ouch again.
As if to prove the adage that no good deed goes unpunished — our reporter Joan McCoy wanted to write the story well before Christmas — it’s too bad the story created so much discord since the program celebrates the spirt of the holiday.
We received so many calls, it reminded us of the old newspaper slogan, “In Philadelphia, everybody reads the Bulletin.”
It seems like everyone reads The Leader in Cabot and Lonoke County. Thank you very much. So when we make a mistake, we hear from almost everyone.
Some callers were friendly, some hostile and some in between. Some of you came by the office and commiserated with us.
We were all stressed out over the mistake. Those of you who were more understanding, thank you for not roughing us up too much.
Then there was the fellow with a criminal past who posted some ugly remarks on Facebook. He is running for countywide office.
That didn’t surprise us. But most readers were cordial, so here’s a modest proposal:
How about if Cook, Cypert and Stumbaugh, the three mayoral candidates, all sing together during the program?
A little harmony goes a long way, and wouldn’t that make for a merry Christmas?
