Memo of the Week

Bill Palen, a local P.R. executive with Fleishman Hillard, offered this counsel to Southwestern Bell Telephone general manager Tom Morgan, on the date of the Observer's publication of a cover story by Miriam Rozen about "Project X"--a set of billing practices that former company employees allege were racist. Those making the charge--denied by the company--included Doug Hamilton, a fired manager who had been touted earlier as a hero for rescuing a woman from drowning in a flood.