Columnist Susan Snyder: Having a wonderful block party

Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2002 | 8:17 a.m.

Normally, I wouldn't waste two sentences on information that comes attached to candy Legos.

After all, I've ignored information lashed to teddy bears, chocolate champagne bottles and cylinders that moo when you turn them over.

But Sprint recently sent out bags of edible Lego building blocks to tout its latest marketing campaign.

Maybe it was curiosity. Maybe it was because my last bill was $52.

I called.

Detra Page, the media relations person, said the candy was designed to attract the news media's attention to Sprint's latest marketing campaign. She unveiled the Legos to her Las Vegas colleagues during a conference call with the company's home office in Kansas City.

"Our people were sitting there building things with them and picking out which colors they wanted to save for later," she said.

Now don't get the old panties in a twist. This isn't exactly waste ala Enron. Marketing staffers are supposed to send "news" taped to plastic fish.

At the Sun we auction off for charity everything that comes to us, except the perishable stuff. Food that can't be given away is spread around the newsroom, where we pick at it until it's gone or starts breathing.

However, rest assured our objectivity is intact. I asked a co-worker who had a handful of pink Legos where they came from.

"I dunno."

After about five queries someone said, "I think it's from Sprint."

For what?

"I dunno."

One editor reached into his trash can, plucked out the still-folded Lego release and gave it to me. It's ugly when cute marketing goes bad.

Page -- always the gamer even though I never call about anything nice -- played along.

"I was concerned," she said "because I didn't want to look like we were out there spending all kinds of money."

With candy Lego building blocks? Naaah. I'd never say such a thing -- at least, not with my mouth full.

"I told my boss I didn't want my media contacts to be uncomfortable taking it," Page said.

No chance of that. I'd have to know who sent it first.

The Lego bags cost $8 apiece, Page said. I figured if I ate a whole bag, my Sprint bill would actually be more like $44.

In a sense, it worked. Page got Sprint in the newspaper and a call from a columnist, who now knows what the Legos were selling.

But just because I ate the candy doesn't mean I have to tell.

This tidbit didn't come attached to anything edible or cute: A federal judge in Utah ordered a photographer to serve two years probation and pay $10,900 for damage caused by fires he lit under Delicate Arch in Arches National Park last year.

Michael Fatali, of Utah, also is barred from entering Arches and Canyonlands national parks during his probation because he used fires to illuminate night photos in both places.

Fatali has paid the $10,900, and he told the U.S. District Court judge he was sorry.

As are we all. Park officials have said some marks remain under Delicate Arch, one of the West's most notable features.