Printing Employee 
On the Mend —Cagle

THE LAST thing I want to do is repeatedly come to you, the readers, with hat in hand, even on behalf of someone else. The Jim Reilly case was somewhat different, because rotten luck and tragedy had visited him repeatedly. But, there is another cause afoot where someone is trying to help out a printing industry employee who is a little down on his luck.

You may recall the case of Lon Martinsen, who works for Grafix Screen Printing in Cotati, CA. Martinsen lost his right hand, temporarily, following an accident in early April while using a cutter. The re-attachment surgery seems to be a success, but Martinsen has a long road back. Now Michele Holman, plant manager with Grafix, is putting together a fund on behalf of her injured co-worker. This is the letter she sent out to customers, vendors and community leaders:

"As many of you already know, we have had an unfortunate accident at our place of business. One of our pressmen, Lon Martinsen, cut his hand off in a Dexter cutter on April 5. This accident has left him unable to work. Lon is a single father (who) pays child support for two teenagers. To help Lon through this tough time we have set up a trust account at Exchange Bank.

Lon Martinsen Trust Fund
c/o Exchange Bank
6290 Commerce Blvd.
Rohnert Park, CA 94928
Account No. 1080041914

"Lon was taken down to California Pacific Medical Center where they reattached his hand, and the doctors are amazed at how well he is doing. He is having physical therapy, sometimes daily. This is going to be a really tough time for him. The doctors have told him that it may take 8-10 months of hard work to regain use of his hand.

"I know times like these are hard for everyone, but any contribution would be very much appreciated. If you have any questions, please feel free to give me a call at (707) 794-9988."

Martinsen dropped in to say hello a few weeks following the accident, according to Holman, and encouraged his fellow workers by being able to wiggle several of his fingers. He will definitely be on the shelf for some time, so if you wish to make some sort of contribution to his cause, it will certainly help him.

In addition, I would like to thank those individuals who inquired about helping Jim Reilly. I will provide an update on how things are going for him when new information is available.

WAIST OF PAPER: As the aforementioned sectional header error suggests, there is a simple reason why a computer's spell checker application is not a silver bullet for the publishing industry or any writing purpose: it doesn't spot misused words, only incorrect spellings. Just ask the Australian arm of Penguin Books, which paid through the nose to find that out.

Not long ago, Penguin had to pulp 7,000 copies of a cookbook due to an editorial gaffe in one of its recipes. The actual recipe called for "freshly ground black pepper." What did the printed version say? "Freshly ground black people."

Oops.

One has to wonder what would've been included in a similarly twisted recipe book for Watergate Salad...perhaps a pinch of Liddy or a dash of Nixon. Perhaps Cobb Salad would've called for some Georgia Peaches (Ty Cobb was the Georgia Peach. Sorry, I couldn't resist a baseball reference).

Carelessness and short cuts can provide a swift kick in the pants. Or the wallet. So stay alert.

SPEAKING OF BASEBALL: Allied Printing defeated Dairy Queen 17-5 in Manchester (CT) Little League action back in April. The power of printing rules on the baseball diamond. The same day, the Lions Club defeated the Lawyers, 22-5. And who doesn't like the idea of throwing the Lawyers to the Lions?

C-NOTE MAKEOVER: While U.S. currency still doesn't look as FAB-u-lous as the euro, its much-needed makeover culminates with next year's release of the spiffy new $100 bill. Ben Franklin is back, but now he's accompanied by an ink well with a disappearing Liberty Bell.

Included on the C-note is a bright blue security ribbon that is made up of thousands of small lenses that magnify objects in odd ways. The blue ribbon will provide a 3-D effect to the micro images that the thousands of lenses will be magnifying. As the note is tilted back and forth, the images move side to side. If it's tilted side to side, the images move up and down.

Ben's ink well turns from copper to green as the $100 is tilted, and the Liberty Bell will play peek-a-boo during the same movement.

These enhancements round out a monetary makeover that began in 2003 with the $20 bill getting a splash of color, followed by the $50, $10 and $5 bill. The changes, of course, are aimed at curtailing counterfeiting. Interestingly, foreigners counterfeit the $100 bill more than U.S. citizens, who favor faking the Andrew Jackson.

Apparently, the $1 will not get a face lift, so counterfeiters are urged to move in that direction. As for the new Franklin, it debuts next February. PI

—Erik Cagle