The letter from alert reader Kate Kramer of Corvallis so exemplified a common concern among readers who sometimes find significant national news on a back pages of the newspaper that it deserves a better explanation. Her letter read as follows:

"The Food and Drug Administration has approved a vaccine to prevent cervical cancer, a disease that kills thousands of women every year - a vaccine to prevent cancer! This is fabulous news! I wonder why, then, that the front page of Friday's newspaper had a big, color picture of men fishing.

"Don't get me wrong; it was a nice picture. But it's fishing. Meanwhile, important medical news - news that certainly has implications for women in the Willamette Valley (not to mention the entire world) is buried on page 10.

"Hmm … Could it be because cervical cancer is a women's health issue?"

On the contrary! We share Kate Kramer's belief that the new cervical cancer vaccine is important - so important that we also ran an article June 2 and a guest editorial June 6, "Cancer and mortality," exploring the controversy surrounding the drug, whose availability we endorse. That is why we were glad to include the follow-up article in the Friday edition when more news space became available at the last minute.

Publication of significant national news in this "bonus" space creates a perpetual quandary for us with our readers. Such publication is possible when our classified advertising department does not require all of the available space budgeted for its use. That enables us to publish late-breaking national stories of significance.

Some readers (understandably) conclude that news articles published in the back of the newspaper are "buried" there. We see them as buried treasure.

Publishing local news, features, sports, advertising, legal notices and other items of record of, about and for Corvallis and Benton County is our primary responsibility, although we understand that readers would like the newspaper to have more national news as well. Whenever possible, we are glad to oblige.