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Error Spells V-I-C-T-O-R-Y for Librarians in Controversial ContestFor the second consecutive year, a Toledo–Lucas County (Ohio) Public Library team garnered top prize in The Blade Corporate Spelling Bee-but not until almost a week after the controversial September 4 contest.TLCPL librarians Mary Plews and Marilee McSweeny initially lost out to International Multifoods’ Bob Scarlett and Mike Mann, even though the other team misspelled “chromatophore” in an earlier round, the Toledo Blade reported September 5. Although several people heard Mann begin with the wrong spelling and then correct himself, the contest judges—who were discussing the pronunciation of a word—didn’t, and the team was allowed to continue, prompting one eliminated candidate to storm out of the room shouting, “I want to spell mine over too!” The next day, Scarlett and Mann announced they wanted to return their trophy; less than a week later, the two teams swapped plaques at the library. McSweeny also gave the other team small jars of honey. “I thought since it was a spelling bee, honey would be appropriate,” she said. “We thought it was really sweet for them to do this.” Plews, a special services librarian, was a member of last year’s winning team, along with Wendy Bethune. This year the contest raised $42,000 for the Read for Literacy Foundation. Posted September 15, 2003. |
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