In the latest update of the Sarah Palin-Joe McGinniss soap opera, the local Wasilla, Alaska, newspaper has apologized for an editorial that hinted McGinniss could be attacked for trespassing.

The apology follows a Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman editorial Saturday that was in response to author McGinniss moving into a house next to Palin as he researches a book on the former governor and 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate. The situation has already prompted Palin to build a fence and sparked national media interest.

The Saturday editorial was focused mostly on the attention the situation has been receiving. But it ended with the writer stating: "Finally, those who are fond of Joe McGinnis might remind him (if he doesn't already know) that Alaska has a law that allows the use of deadly force in protection of life and property.

The paper ran the following editor's note Wednesday online at the bottom of the original editorial:

Editor's Note: While you don't see my name at the bottom of our editorials, I routinely write them, and I wrote the one that ran Saturday - the one about Joe McGinnis and the Palins' new fence.

In an effort to find a catchy ending, I was a bit too creative with the last paragraph. If I had it to do over again, I would have left off the last sentence of the editorial. It doesn't add to my point, which was that there is nothing particularly newsworthy about someone moving in next door nor about a new fence going up to protect the privacy of neighbors.

I certainly did not mean to suggest that McGinnis would or should be the victim of violence. For that matter, I didn't mean to suggest the Palins would do such a thing.

All of which points to the power of words. I misused them on Saturday. I'll try to have more respect for that power next time around.