What is it on the Sunday magazine cover below that the Goldsboro, North Carolina, News-Argus considered ""grossly" obscene? "So obscene, in fact, we would not feel comfortable in describing it," wrote Gene Price in his November 15 front page column. Four other papers -- the Bluefield, West Virginia, Daily Telegraph; the Cumberland, Maryland, Times-News; the Dalton, Georgia, Daily Citizen-News; and the Griffin, Georgia, Daily News also declined to distribute the November 12-14 edition of USAWeekend because of this object. Hint #1: It's a fruit or vegetable.

Hint #2: It helps, as the Raleigh, North Carolina, News & Observer put it, to "stare long enough and think like a giggly fifth-grader." No, it's not the naked banana, not that nice round pair of oranges. Stop that. It's the peniform carrot.

Reader opinion was strongly divided on the carrot controversy. "I don't need to know what was on the cover, only that you had the foresight to know what is and isn't good taste in our area. Thank God some people who have the ability to do so," wrote Catherine L. Duncan to the Cumberland Times-News. "Censorship is one thing -- upholding family values is another. Hallelujah!" wrote Judy Spivey to the Bluefield Daily Telegraph.

Among readers on the other side of the debate at the Times-News was J.A. Wilson: "This is still the United States of America! And your act of blatant censorship is not only 'offensive and distasteful,' it's also pretty damned insulting!" Wilson noted that he finds the work of syndicated columnist Cal Thomas "offensive and distasteful," and that the solution is to avert his eyes. In the same paper, William B. Stemple added: "After watching the evening news on television and reading the sensational details of the Bobbitt trials in your newspaper, I am at a loss to imagine what could be so offensive on the cover of USA Weekend."

USA Today officials note that a sixth paper, the Plano, Texas, Star Courier, took issue with the offending vegetable, but in the end its editors decided a carrot was a carrot and distributed the magazine. The paper received no complaints.

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