By Mary Alice Murphy

I'm sure many of you readers have seen headlines that make you say: "What?" And then you discover that the headline really has nothing in common with the article.

The Beat fell into that category this week.

In an attempt to be a bit sensational, this editor made perhaps a poor choice of words in a headline this week. The words were meant to be tongue-in-cheek by using a term too much in use of late in national news.

She attempted to be "cute," much against her usual tempered and usually boring headlines. She learned a lesson, so you can expect her boring, but not misleading, headlines to continue.

The reason several of the protesters had shown up at Watts Hall, as they told her, was because they believed that Congressman Steve Pearce would be holding a town hall at that venue. So it seemed to this reporter that somehow people had gotten word that Pearce would be in attendance.

This editor knew the fact'that Pearce's constituent representative out of Pearce's Las Cruces office would be in attendance for one hour, as is his usual plan, to hear from constituents about concerns they have on the federal level. Sometimes, they request help in clearing up a situation; sometimes, they vent; sometimes they just want to make sure a concern is heard.

The constituent representative takes down the contact information of the person and relays the concerns and problems to the congressman's office in Washington D.C. He does not answer questions nor give opinions. He is simply a face for people to talk to.

Look forward to more tempered headlines from this editor.