I spoke with an angry reader from Severn last week. She's been a subscriber of the Maryland Gazette for 10 years, and had just canceled the newspaper. Rob Pryor, our company's circulation director, brought me a note from the customer service representative who talked to the reader.

The reason for her pique? Slots.

In particular, she was upset with a recent "Our Say" column that mentioned in passing that the slots referendum passed overwhelmingly in Anne Arundel County.

It's a fact that was central to this newspaper's decision to drop its long held opposition to legalizing slot machines. Once the...