What's In a Last Name? Shared Surname Lands Reporter a Scoop

By: Brian Orloff Beth Quimby, a reporter at the Portland (Maine) Press Herald, scored a juicy scoop when an e-mail intended for local land preservationist Roxanne Quimby (no relation) landed in her inbox.

The e-mail, sent by Sam Hodder, senior project leader for Trust for Public Lands, outlined steps taken to secure 18,000 acres of land next to Baxter State Park and transfer them into preservationist Quimby's possession. An article by Beth Quimby in today's paper revealed the details.

Though managing editor Eric Conrad said he thought the e-mail was not intended for the newspaper, he acknowledged receiving revealing documents in the past. "In our line of work, you get an anonymous memo or report dropped in the mail," Conrad told E&P. "If this was inadvertent, it was a first. It is a lesson about the danger of e-mail."

The controversial plan requires Trust for Public Lands to receive sale and purchase agreements allowing Quimby and logging contractor William Gardner to swap property. The deal might eventually add Katahdin Lake to Baxter State Park. The lake was originally intended to be included in the park but has been privately owned since the park's 1931 inception.