Still think free dailies are the answer?

Sometimes free isn't enough. Not everyone in suburban DC wants a free Examiner on their doorstep:

Fourteen Arlington citizens, however, have had time to send flaming complaints to county authorities. Some of the complaints include the residents' exasperated entreaties to the Examiner, and their tone can't be boosting morale at the fledgling paper's editorial offices. On March 4, for example, Arlington resident Jeanne Briskin included this line in an e-mail to the Examiner: "Stop delivery of the examiner to my home...immediately. I did not request it, and do not want it, at all, ever."

Like Morrissey, Briskin reported no luck in getting the paper to cut off delivery and wasn't pleased about handling disposal duties. "I do not want to clean up what I consider to be trash that you dump on me," wrote Briskin to the Examiner.

The complaints—and the red plastic piles that inspire them—have made their way to the top of Arlington municipal government. Arlington County Board Chair Jay Fisette has asked the county manager to probe the litter complaints. Not that Fisette isn't perfectly familiar with the issue to begin with. "Count me as a passionate advocate of the free press, but I'm also an environmentalist who picks up unwanted litter, and I've been busy lately," says Fisette.