From the Newsroom:

On the way into the office Tuesday, I caught a sports radio program in which the host was discussing a recent controversy brewing between the football coach at Oklahoma State and a newspaper columnist.

If you haven’t heard the story, the coach launched a verbal tirade caught on video after the columnist wrote some unflattering things about his quarterback. Readers can see the exchange and the video at newsok.com/sports.

His main beef, it seems, is the quarterback is a young kid. A shrinking violet who doesn’t deserved to be criticized in the public limelight in such a way.

“Pick on me,” the coach yells on the video. “I’m an adult. I’m 40.”

But the radio sports host thought the coach’s argument was baloney.

He said anyone who decides to jump into the spotlight — whether it be a run for political office or playing sports or being a radio host or even being a columnist at a newspaper — needs to have thick skin.

That very same sports program was fresh on my mind when later that morning I stumbled on a letter on our Forum pages written by Dick Lewis, a regular letter contributor from Newport Beach.

Lewis joined the chorus of other letter writers who took us to task for running a stinging, name-calling invective by Tom Williams that rebutted an earlier column by Joseph Bell.

Lewis cited a letter written by the same Tom Williams eight years ago that also slammed Bell and using that he concluded it was “business as usual” at the Daily Pilot to allow Williams to smear Bell.

Well, that’s simply not true.

And since Lewis needed to reach back eight years for an example, that should prove that point.

Truth is that Williams, a former Newport-Mesa school board member by the way, has been writing letters that call Bell names for years.

And for years, I decided not to print a lot of them based on the rules of decorum I wanted our Forum pages to live by.

But there also is another school of thought in the Daily Pilot newsroom that allowed William’s latest letter to run.

The theory being the free marketplace of ideas should allow writers much more leeway than I have given in the past.

The Williams story is proof, those in the newsroom would say, that the free marketplace of ideas corrects itself as writer after writer sent in letters decrying Williams for his attack on Bell.

And just like the quarterback at Oklahoma State and the columnist at the Daily Oklahoman, the newsroom argument is that Bell is also a public figure here in Newport-Mesa.

Should any of our columnists be treated with kid gloves, or should all of us who write just realize we have to live with criticism? Slings and arrows are going to come our way; we just need to learn how to duck and move on.

While I’ve been a proponent of no name calling, I have to admit, I understand that point. I’m not sure I agree, but I do understand.

So I’m curious. How do most of the readers feel about that?

Should letter writers be free to use name calling when it comes to public figures? Should we prune those out or let the fur fly as it might?

For those who would like to do something nice for our local police and firefighters, head on over to the Centennial Farms and Wine Courtyard at the O.C. Fairgrounds Oct. 4 for the Costa Mesa Chamber of Commerce’s second annual Public Safety Recognition Barbecue.

The event is from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and $10; police and fire employees get in free.

More information is at www.costamesachamber.com/