Posted on Sat, Oct. 06, 2007

It’s been a busy couple of weeks at the readers’ representative lines. Time to sum up a few of the more frequent concerns that have come my way:

Death isn’t ‘icky’

Taste is almost always a highly subjective matter. No two people see eye to eye 100 percent of the time about what’s funny or suitable for the pages of The Kansas City Star. But there are times when I think most people would agree that a line has been crossed.

At least 10 readers contacted me on Sept. 24 objecting to an item in the “Today’s Top 10” list on Page A-2. Number eight concerned the death of an 18-year-old who fell into a vat of sulfuric acid at his workplace. The headline was “Icky deaths, part one.”

“I find that title flippant and so insensitive,” said one caller.

“I’m just mad as a hornet over this,” said another.

I sometimes hear similar complaints about the “Weird News” feature in FYI. While the circumstances of a death may be unusual, I’m with the readers who would prefer that The Star not write about it in jest. Every death — whether from an accident, crime, illness or natural causes — is a serious and tragic ordeal for someone.

Re-up for No Call?

Several readers were confused by an Associated Press story on Sept. 24 about the national Do Not Call list for telemarketers. The earliest people who signed up in 2003 will see their numbers drop off the list in June of 2008, so Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Doyle introduced legislation to make the registrations permanent.

One caller asked me if that meant she needed to re-register her name on the Missouri list as well, or if that list was separate. Scott Holste, spokesman for the Missouri attorney general’s office, told me that his office has heard from many people afraid that the Missouri list was set to expire next year.

No, the story didn’t even mention any state registries, but I absolutely understand the confusion. There are separate state and federal lists, and consumer advocates recommend that people who don’t want to receive telemarketing calls sign up on both.

Missouri registrations do not expire as long as the phone number and address remain unchanged, but Kansans must re-register every five years. It would have been useful to readers if The Star had localized the story with pertinent state info.

Root-word confusion

In an Oct. 4 timeline for renovations of Kauffman Stadium, the schedule calls for “expanded vomitories” to be completed by opening day 2008. Three readers that morning asked me what that unusual term means.

A vomitory is an exit from the seating area of a theater or stadium. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, it comes from the Latin vomere, referring to “disgorging the spectators.” But yes, it shares a root word with the English word vomit.

“I thought that was The Star’s comment on the Royals season,” said one caller.

I have no comment on that one.

To reach Derek Donovan, send e-mail to readerrep@kcstar.com, or call 816-234-4487 weekdays between 8:30 a.m. and noon.