Thank you, Alice Lukens, for clearing up the details of the ongoing battle between the Iowa State Daily Publication Board and Partnership Press.

As a one-time editor at the Daily, I have heard all the sordid details but never have heard Mr. Gartner nor Mr. Gerlach mention their real reasons for suing the Daily.

They have said it was a service to the public by opening records, and they have said it was to expose how Iowans are spending tax dollars on a student newspaper (which is essentially a classroom, anyway.)

They have never said the law suit was because they can’t compete with the Daily.

But you have. Your letter in Tuesday’s Daily said they sued because “its (Partnership Press) ad base was being eroded … ” Translation: advertisers were advertising in the better of the papers (the Daily), and Partnership Press couldn’t compete.

Anyone who has worked at the Daily, including the many Tribune staff writers you now employ, will tell you the Daily is hardly the image of a Fortune 500 company Partnership Press portrays it to be.

If you can’t compete, perhaps it’s time to quit the race.

Kris Fettkether

Senior

Journalism and mass communication