The Gardners wrote a letter to the editor, thanking Blair.
In the South Texas town of Los Fresnos, the mother of the last soldier missing in action in Iraq also found herself feeling grateful for Blair's fraudulent coverage. She did not know, until the New York Times contacted her recently, that he had written a front-page story about her -- without interviewing her -- by lifting passages from the San Antonio Express-News.
All she knew was she was suddenly getting letters from strangers in New York, Boston, even Canada, promising prayers. "That was a big support," San Juanita Anguiano said.
The plagiarism in that article caught the attention of the Express-News, and the editor complained to the New York Times, touching off the inquiry that led to Blair's May 1 resignation.
Still, Anguiano doesn't feel betrayed; she invites journalists to her house for interviews.
Nelson, the coal miner, feels less charitable. "To be honest," he said in a phone interview last week, "you're the first reporter I've talked to. I told my wife we'd stay away from them."
