I wonder who edits for the editor in an editorial?

A newspaper should be about effective communication. I was able to figure out what "10-42" in your recent editorial's headline meant but I'm guessing a majority of your readership would not know the Associated Public Safety Communications Officers 10-code for "ending tour of duty." It seemed like you were writing to now-deceased St. Clair County Sheriff Mearl Justus directly and everyone else was supposed to read along as best they could.

Since the sheriff was a Navy veteran, maybe he'd appreciate your comment, "a sailor's vocabulary," but others like Navy personnel out at Scott Air Force Base may not.

Though you offered an abridged version of that old line, that kind of comment is so "old school" and really not appropriate for the here and now.

Bill Malec

O'Fallon