Editor,

The July 11, 2013 edition included a brief article under the headline, “No practice scheduled next week at OLF.”

The last sentence in the article reads, “The Navy’s OLF at Coupeville is a critical national security asset that provides essential training for Navy pilots based at NAS Whidbey Island to conduct safe and effective aircraft carrier flight operations.”

This statement appears to be an unattributed press release issued by Whidbey NAS and not a news report by The Whidbey Examiner.

The article might have said, “NAS spokesperson John Doe states that the OLF is a critical national security asset.” Or it might have said simply, “The OLF is utilized by Navy pilots for training for aircraft carrier flight operations.”

If this is too challenging, how about a companion article that reads, “The mission of The Whidbey Examiner is to present opinions or positions salted with adjectives as statements of incontrovertible fact.”

Lynn Petersen

Greenbank