by Jayson Blair
(PALESTINE, West Virginia) — Howell Raines leaned against a post on his front porch wistfully overlooking acres of tobacco fields and cattle pastures. The pain of recent revelations of fraud and plagiarism by one of his New York Times reporters was etched on his face as with a diamond stylus.
Mr. Raines, executive editor of the Times, kicked a manure-caked boot against the post, and threw his unfinished cigar into a patch of red, white and blue petunias with a bit more force than necessary.
“We told that little varmint to use anonymous sources, not imaginary ones,” said Mr. Raines. He paused and spat vigorously. “Our 152-year reputation of revealing the honest feelings of unnamed sources is now jeopardized by this one renegade, loose-cannon, cowboy….”
Mr. Raines’ voice trailed off as he gazed at the North Carolina sunset casting its magenta splendor over the Dover Air Force base just outside the window of his semi-private room at the Walter Reed Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio.
Next to Mr. Raines in the hospital room lay an Iraq war vet who had lost half of his leg when alleged sniper John Lee Malvo shot him outside a Home Depot store in Chevy Chase, MD.
In Mr. Raines heart and mind, a smoldering rage grew. Although he told no one, not even a visiting reporter, his thoughts ran helter-skelter from plans for resignation, to contract details for the tell-all novel that will make his career in journalism worth all the heartache.

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