When the Fayetteville Observer published a piece purporting to show high levels of ozone pollution in Cumberland County, new Research Director and Local Government Analyst Michael Sanera fired off a letter refuting the authors’ claims and exposing their selective use of data. In his letter published Sunday, he noted (1) data from 2002 was an anomaly due to exceptionally hot, dry weather and (2) data from 2003 to the present show 2.6 high ozone days per Cumberland County monitor per year. In this week’s Raleigh News & Observer, an environmentalist whose data was challenged by Roy Cordato in a recent N&O op-ed, took a swipe at Cordato’s analysis. Rather than addressing data, David Farren of the Southern Environmental Law Center fell back on an emotional appeal. “The central point is that air quality is not simply a numbers game but an important health issue with real consequences,” Farren wrote. Cordato’s original piece about the distortions also ran in the Asheville Tribune.