EDITORIAL

We might not be able to define ridiculous, but we know it when we

see it.

And the situation between Dr. Laura Schlessinger and Beach Access

owner Thomas Moore is ridiculous.

Rather than get together and work out a simple apology -- by both

sides at this point -- the latest course of this argument seems to be

headed for a certain court date.

It didn’t need to be this way. We can forgive -- understand even --

Schlessinger’s personal reaction to seeing a Larry Flynt publication. We

won’t argue whether it was pornographic, as she believes. She had the

right to walk out of the South Coast Plaza store and never return.

And we’re not going to tell her how to run her show or what to say.

But after Moore admitted it was a mistake to have the magazine Big

Brother, she should have let the issue go and applauded him for his

admission.

That never happened. Instead, the war of words kept escalating, even

as the two sides were meeting quietly to work out a settlement. And it

exploded, before any peace could be found, into name-calling.

It’s awfully childish for a radio personality known for giving parents

advice.

Moore, too, isn’t innocent here. Initially, he said Schlessinger’s

comments had hurt his business. But after other radio show hosts Howard

Stern and local Tom Leykis came out in support of Beach Access, that

spiral down turned around. You know what they say: There’s no such thing

as bad publicity. People around the country now know of Moore’s store.

Little wonder, then, that he seems willing to take the matter to

court, as well.

But does this weekend shopping trip turned ugly really need to

culminate in an attorney-on-attorney battle? Can’t Dr. Laura and Tom

Moore just get along?

After all, wouldn’t it be a lot simpler to announce a press

conference, stand up in front of the microphones and television cameras

(after all, this whole thing is media driven at this point), say all has

been worked out and bring this farce to an end?

It’s either that or an eventual, inevitable visit from the Hustler

publisher himself. And you can be certain the cameras will be there for

that.