"It's pretty simple ... we don't accept plagiarism"

So said Rusty Cunningham concerning the removal of Jim Galewski. Once again, it was a READER who discovered the copying:

We discovered the mistake when a Winona State University student tipped us off that some of the material in that day's column wasn't just Jim's.

Cunningham also noted "a true journalist believes plagiarism is the unethical, unprofessional, shameful, humiliating kiss of death" and "credibility is everything to a journalist."

Now, if we could get Cunningham to clean house in Carbondale.

**UPDATE. In a later piece Scott Dalton: Publisher's column was unnecessary , Scott criticizes Cunningham's action

However, taking one mistake - as serious as it may be - that had already been acknowledged, apologized for and dealt with, and using that to impugn Jim's career as a reporter and editor of the Winona Daily News seems to be nothing more than using your newspaper in an attempt to smear a good man's name.
It seems to me that somebody in the position of publisher of a newspaper such as the Daily News should be above using his newspaper in a manner that comes across more as being vindictive than presenting the facts.

The current editor added after Dalton's letter-->

Editor's note: Cunningham's column responded to Jim Galewski's letter to the editor, which he insisted we publish and in which he referred to his clear plagiarism as "unfortunate similarities." There were no plans to publish such a column prior to his insistence on our publishing his letter.

"Unfortunate similarities" evokes the unintentional plagiarism themes that arose in the Glenn Poshard saga at SIU.
As a separate matter, the business with Posner at the Daily Beast, wherein there were similar explanations, was followed by revelations that Posner additionally plagiarized in Miami Babylon. "Unfortunate similarities" can be, in some cases, an enduring theme.