BY THE WAY: CLEARING THE AIR FOR ANNOYED READER

Writing for the masses isn't as easy as it looks. You think you're painting a clear picture, but then someone begs to differ and you realize you probably missed the mark.

Just when I thought I latched onto a poignant image, the Sikeston Director of Utilities saw fit to pull the plug on my poetic license.

E. R. Inman, who is director of utilities in Sikeston, took exception with a paragraph I used to describe the plight of a section in Sikeston called Sunset in a series titled "Sikeston under siege."

I thought a fitting backdrop for the series would be the thick smoke that belches from the city's power plant. It struck me that this would draw readers into the dilemma of the mean streets of Sikeston and temporarily satisfy my insatiable creative appetite. So I made this my first paragraph for the series.

Mr. Inman saw things a little differently. Wrote Inman, "Your statement in bold print that, `The fear and frustration are as obvious and unavoidable as the thick smoke that belches out of the city's power plant' is a sensational headline."

Continued Inman, "The only problem with it is that it is not true. Our plant emissions are in compliance with the Clean Air Act and the smoke that is emitted is scrub and contains mostly moisture. Your readers would be well served if you would investigate your facts before you include some phrase that just sounds good."

A point well taken Mr. Inman. Even though that wouldn't qualify as a headline, it looked big enough to seem as though it were.

I realize now that if I had done my homework, I would have written something like this: The fear and frustration are as obvious and unavoidable as the smoke-that-is-scrub-and-contains-mostly-moisture that belches from the city's power plant.

In this way I wouldn't have put the Sikeston Power plant at risk of being investigated by the feds and I would have been more truthful with the public.

To clear the air, so to speak, I will go on record as saying I believe Mr. Inman. I would be willing to bet my best floppy disc that Sikeston has the cleanest plant emissions in the Bootheel.

Whether or not the city has been able to rid Sunset of the lawlessness of juveniles seems of little consequence now that I've had some time to reflect on the series.

If they get more cops to do the job that I believed must be done isn't the most pressing problem right now. The most urgent mission is trying to get people to realize that the Sikeston Power Plant is a very efficient company.

Mr. Inman concluded his letter to me by saying that his electric service cost per kilowatt hour on his Aug. 1 bill was ".0564/kwh". Queried Inman, "What was yours?"

I'm not sure I can dig up my last utility bill. And I must confess I have no idea what those numbers really mean. But I do know my bill was as obvious and unavoidable as the smoke-that-is-scrub-and-contains-mostly-moisture that belches from any city's power plant I might write about in the near future.

~Bill Heitland is a staff writer at the Southeast Missourian.