THUMB AWARD PULITZER-PROUD PAPER

Thumbs Up to the Pulitzer Prize-winning Fort Worth Star-Telegram staff for standing its ground in the face of Bell Helicopter’s newspaper boycotts and verbal blasts following a series of articles on design flaws in helicopters that nave been blamed for the deaths of 250 U.S. servicemen since 1967. Reporter Mark Thompson turned a three-paragraph blurb printed in a trade journal into an award-winning example of public-service journalism. Congratulations are also in order for Roland Lindsey, state editor; Steve Fagan, assistant managing editor for news; and Bob Stewart, chief copy editor. As the only area paper to ever win a Pulitzer for reporting, the Star-Telegram has every right to gloat. “Now people will think of Dallas/Fort Worth as a three-paper area,” Fagan says. As for the future, he says, the newspaper will continue to offer its readers the same kind of reporting. And as for Bell Helicopter, its “no comment” response to the announcement just about says it all.