From the Atlanta Journal Constitution:

To our readers

Julia Wallace – Staff

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

A column on page 3 of the Feb. 11 Wheels section recounted a story about a man who survived an avalanche in Slovakia. A one-paragraph synopsis of this story also appeared in Atlanta & the World on Feb. 2. In fact, the story is a myth circulating via the Internet and e-mail. The Feb. 11 column repeated a common Internet version almost verbatim and without attribution. The Feb. 2 synopsis was culled from the Web site of a British tabloid. We are reviewing the freelance and editing procedures that allowed these items to get in the newspaper. We’ll report back on what we find and changes we plan to make. We work hard to make sure what you read is accurate and original. In these cases, we let you down. I apologize.

Hat tip: Robert P.