He Always Was Such a Kidder

We keep a Wichita Bureau so we can get stuff  like this:

Celebrations ad for serial killer was a mistake

The Wichita Eagle on Sunday published a photo and laudatory birthday wish for a convicted serial killer, Richard Grissom, who turns 50 on Wednesday.

Publishing this on Page 7C of the Celebrations section was a mistake, Eagle publisher William C. Hidlay said Monday....

"We sincerely apologize for the grief and heartache this has caused the families of his victims." ...

[Grissom is] serving time in the state prison system, sentenced to four life terms, [Police Lt. Ken] Landwehr said. Landwehr didn't like seeing the Celebrations item, but sneaking it into the paper fits with Grissom's profile, he said. "He's quite the little con man." 

Wichita adds: "I’ve always thought that the Eagle was edited by 7th graders."  Technically, my guess is that this particular outrage never saw an editor.  I'm guessing it went straight through the the classifieds desk--the people who used to take your ads before Craigslist.  But he's got a good general point.  Part of the job of a good copy reader is to know stuff.  You want people with a deep institutional and community memory so they can say--hey, wait a minute, I remember that guy.