Plagiarism Stinks Like Second-Hand Smoke

Erin Hess, a “healthy lifestyle coordinator” and public information officer for Hardee County's health department has produced a boring little article about the effects of second-hand smoke on household pets. And the Charlotte Sun ran it today in the DeSoto edition’s main sheet and, for good measure, reprinted it in Dawn Kreb’s tab, “Health and Fitness.”

The problem is, although local editors felt confident enough in the putative author's honesty to run her article and mug shot, Erin Hess didn't write the piece at all. Her article is a childish "cut and paste" essay carried out with the sophistication of a middle-schooler -- which is just about the time youngsters in Florida schools learn the beauties of attribution. Hess apparently was adjusting her makeup when her language arts teacher told the class about the power of the little phrases: "According to," and "Someone said."

To get started on her article about protecting pets from the dangers of second-hand smoke, Hess (a professional public information person) needed a couple of opening paragraphs. For these she swung by a Web page posted by the New Jersey Record, which reprints (with permission) an article credited to Jura Koncius of the Washington Post . Koncius's entire brief reads like this:

If you really love your pet, stop smoking.

We all know that secondhand tobacco smoke is bad for people, but research indicates that it poses health risks to pets as well. Secondhand smoke has been linked to lymphoma in cats as
well as lung and nasal cancer in dogs.

Arden Moore, a nationally recognized pet expert, says that many pets -- especially cats -- spend most of their lives indoors, subjected to air pollution left by tobacco smoke. And because their body mass is so much smaller than humans', they are at increased risk of being adversely affected by that smoke. Smoke particles can also be ingested by cats, dogs and other pets when they groom themselves and lick their fur.

Back here in Hardee County, our local professional does a little cut-and-paste magic to create her second and third paragraphs, nearly word for word, from the Washington Post writer: We all know that second-hand tobacco smoke is bad for people, but ongoing research indicates that it poses health risks to pets as well. Second-hand smoke has been linked to lymphoma in cats as well as lung and nasal cancer in dogs. Many pets, especially cats, spend most of their lives indoors, subjected to air pollution left by tobacco smoke. And because their body mass is so much smaller than humans, they are at increased risk of being adversely affected by that smoke. Smoke particles can also be ingested by cats, dogs and other pets when they groom themselves and lick their fur.

But Erin Hess finds that’s not enough. There’s still the whole middle section to write copy. For that, she turns to Andrea Thompson, who is credited as the Live Science staff writer at a Web site of the same name. Here’s what she wrote, in part:

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 126 million Americans who don't smoke are exposed to secondhand smoke in their homes, vehicles, workplaces, and public places. This exposure causes thousands of lung cancer and heart disease deaths among nonsmokers every year, according to the California Environmental Protection Agency.

Hess, our local professional public information officer, thinks this would make a dandy fourth paragraph, and so she taps out the plagiarist's favorite keyboard shortcut: CTL+A, CTL+C, CTL+V: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 126 million Americans who don’t smoke are exposed to second-hand smoke in their homes, vehicles, workplaces and public spaces. This exposure causes thousands of lung cancer and heard disease deaths among nonsmokers every year.

Thompson, over at Live Science, concludes her Web article by proposing designated smoking areas that separate pets from smoke:

To help prevent animals from being adversely affected by smoking, pet owners who smoke should have a designated smoking area that is separated from the home or stop smoking altogether, MacAllister said

Hess likes the idea so much she steals the same idea and identical wording for her fifth paragraph: To help prevent animals from being adversely affected by smoking, pet owners who smoke should have a designated smoking area that is separated from the home or stop smoking altogether.

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Part of attaining the status of a"professional" is demonstrating the ability to explain a field's complex ideas in interesting and clear ways. Erin Hess of Hardee County is billed as a professional in the local health department. In fact, she has a long way to go. Old Word Wolf suggests a course in ethics, for starters.

From the Same Publication:

Web Site of the Week: "Author and health coach Sonny Julius has deigned [sic] a special report about diet, healthy eating practices, and what a person needs to do to be sure they are making the right decisions about the food you eat."

Thanks, but OWW will make her own decisions about the food she eats.

And finally, Let's review those pesky W's again. This time, "Sun Correspondent" Chip Ballard tells us a burglary happened "less than a month after five members of the Zolfo Springs Police Department were let go because of a financial crunch the town was facing," and he helpfully adds the home was invaded at about 12:30 p.m.

Please, Chip, might that be one day less than a month? Or 29 days less than a month? Wouldn't it just be clearer and more reader friendly to simply tell readers the robbery took place on a particular day?