KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Somewhere in Springfield, state unknown, Bart Simpson is in detention, filling a chalkboard with the words "I will not write a fake letter to Dear Abby." <p>Well, it probably wasn't Bart's handiwork, but he'd no doubt approve of the prank that forced Dear Abby's editors to pull next Monday's advice column, which included a letter that mirrored an episode of "The Simpsons." <p>"It did sound too similar not to be a hoax," said Kathie Kerr, a spokeswoman for Kansas City-based Universal Press Syndicate. <p>The syndicate sent the column to newspaper subscribers last week. A day later, a newspaper editor called after noticing one of the letters to Abby sounded "awfully familiar," said Sue Roush, one of the column's editors. <p>The column is titled "Wife meets perfect match after husband strikes out." In the letter, the writer describes herself as a 34-year-old mother of three who has been married for 10 years to a man who is "greedy, selfish, inconsiderate and rude." <p>The writer says her husband, Gene, gave her a bowling ball for her birthday — complete with the holes drilled to fit his fingers and embossed with his name. Undeterred, the woman decides to learn to bowl and heads to the local lanes, where she meets another man, Franco, who is "kind, considerate and loving." <p>Full story at
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=529&e=2&u=/ap/20040309/ap_en _tv/dear_abby_simpsons<p>***Never despair that watchful copy editors can make a real difference in this mixed-up world.***