Down to the wire, again

The plan has been OK’d by the House, but last-minute amendments were proposed at a Senate hearing March 27. County Executive Jack B. Johnson is seeking to remove a 60-day deadline for funding plans if a buyer is found, to require the buyer to purchase all the facilities instead of piecemeal, and to require a budget draft from the planned hospital authority to be approved by the county and state.

The changes, if deemed unacceptable to the state Senate or governor, could set the hospital system back yet again. And, again, the change would come near the end of a session — despite years of knowing that the problem needs to be addressed.

These amendments must not stand in the way of a resolution. Officials owe it to patients and employees to resolve the hospital problem once and for all — even if it is at the last minute, again.

To quote or not to quote

Milton V. Peterson, developer of the 300-acre National Harbor complex along the Potomac River, is not your typical businessman. During a meeting March 21 with The Gazette, Harbor executives kept to a tight schedule, ushering in various department heads to discuss different aspects of the $2 billion project.

But when Peterson walks in, the climate changes. His words are not rehearsed, and he uses quite a bit of slang. He speaks with a candor not common among businesspeople and uses terms like ‘‘darling” and ‘‘sweetheart” that cause visitors to cringe but excuse him because of his grandfatherly demeanor.

His laid-back style of discussion included some grammatical errors, so when he commented, ‘‘People in Prince George’s are always saying, ‘We don’t got no classy restaurants.’ Well, you do now, sweetheart,” it was taken as just that — another grammatical error.

The Gazette does not alter quotes — even if they are grammatically incorrect. This policy ensures that readers can trust that what is in the newspaper is exactly what was said.

The Gazette highlighted the quote on last week’s cover to capture Peterson’s effort to fill the void in upscale eateries with his massive Oxon Hill development.

A few readers interpreted his quote to be offensive. Peterson’s use of a double negative in explaining what Prince George’s residents told him was taken by some as a stereotypical impersonation of the way black people — who make up the majority of the county — speak.

Peterson firmly denies that it was intended that way. Gazette editors, after hearing him speak this way grammatically in general, did not take his comment to be offensive, either.

However, when the quote is highlighted by itself and not put in the context of Peterson’s usual way of speaking, it understandably could be considered an insult. The newspaper has a responsibility to ensure that quotes are used in the appropriate context.