I do not know if you read Eric Meyer’s opinion column in the past week’s edition of the Peabody Gazette-Bulletin. Meyer expounded about a phenomenon that seems to haunt newspapers no matter their good intentions or the safeguards they might have in place to double-check everything that comes to them for print.

I had no more than read his opinion on page two when I looked at page three and discovered that I had made a huge mistake in the advertisement I took from high school vocal director Steven Wilson for the upcoming annual Dinner Theater production on April 6. In the advertisement, I put my own telephone number as the one to call to make reservations for the production, rather than the number of the high school office.

Ouch! Well, luckily everyone was on spring break during the past week and there still is a week to call the proper number and make your reservation for the event. I did manage to get it right in the story about the dinner and entertainment, but the ad is incorrect.

I am just glad the number I put in was my own and not that of some poor schmuck who would think he was getting prank calls. And I know the correct number to give any party interested in making a reservation.

In the meantime, my apologies to those involved in the upcoming production. At least we have time to run a corrected ad and make things right. Whew!

*****

On Saturday night, I thought I might have to double up on my blood pressure medication, watching the Wichita State Shockers smack the No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament (also named the number one college team in the country) into the losers bracket during March Madness. Good grief, who would have thought it?

Well, not me. I was just doing my job as a fan of Kansas college hoops — sitting in the recliner expecting to do a little hollering from time to time about the referees. I didn’t plan on such an in-your-face game by the Shockers. I thought they might make a respectable presence, but I didn’t think they would win with such moxie.

I have to confess that I have not regularly followed a WSU men’s basketball team since Xavier McDaniel was the country’s leading all-everything way back in the 1980s. However, this group of young men did a spectacular job. It was fun to watch — a bit tense at times, but what a game! I was even able to ignore the enthusiasm in the voices of the announcers every time it looked like Gonzaga might actually rally and take the game. I have been nursing that particular grudge for decades, but I just ignored their disdain for the team from Kansas and enjoyed the win. Outstanding!

— SUSAN MARSHALL