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Monday's Tucson & Region included a fairly graphic story about a federal appeals court upholding "the validity of what essentially amounted to a strip search of a 13-year-old Safford schoolgirl to see if she had drugs." The story explained that the girl was forced to expose her breast and pubic areas to school officials who found no drugs.

Selma Stone questioned why the girl's name was part of the story.

The Star's Code of Ethics says that when identifying juveniles "every story must be judged individually and discussed with an editor.'' It goes on to say that "In general, we do not identify people accused of a crime until they have been arrested or charged formally. If a juvenile has been arrested "the decision to use the name of a juvenile generally is dependent on the severity of the crime.''

Metro Editor Hipolito R. Corella said the requisite conversation did not occur and that the girl's name should not have appeared in the Star. He then removed her name from the online story on AzStarNet.

Bob Schwarz called to ask why the comic strip "For Better or For Worse'' has suddenly lost its crispness both in story line and drawings. The sketching in particular looks amateurish, he said.

The strip, which turned 28 this month, is now a hybrid of old and new. The mix began Sept. 3 with character Michael Patterson reminiscing with his daughter over pictures of his parents' college days. According to the strip's Web site, this blending will continue until early next year, when "time will stop for the extended Patterson family'' but the strip will continue as touched-up reruns. E&P, a news industry journal, interviewed cartoonist Lynn Johnston in January and cited three reasons for the change. She wants to work less, has health issues and isn't as tuned in as she once was.

Howard Lester e-mailed that Monday's front-page headline "Make driving while eating illegal?'' nearly caused an accident. "So I was sitting at the dinner table last night, eating, and all of a sudden I got the urge to drive, right there at the table, at the same time that I was eating … but I knew that would have been irresponsible.'' Such restraint.

More than 130 people attended the final two free workshops last week in Sahuarita and on the Northwest Side on how to get news in the Star and on StarNet. The next ones will be in January. If you missed the workshops, I'm happy to mail you the handout.

Winning door prizes were: Linda Block, Steve Brownson, C.L. Collins, Andrea Hamblin, Margaret Katz, Vivian MacKinnon, Tony Martinez, Kelly McLear, Dan Moxley, Joe Sanders, Jacquelyn Seth, Jill Jesson Smyth and Sally Weitzel.

My opinion