Had it not been for the so-called "booze cruise" hosted by the state for bigwigs at public expense over the Fourth of July weekend, what would The N&O have to write about in the news doldrums of summer?

A lot actually. War in the Middle East and legislative deadlock in Raleigh come to mind. But the talkabout story of the summer so far is the saga of public officials swilling beer and gobbling canapes aboard a state ferry cruising the Beaufort Tall Ship festival while untitled mortals sweltered ashore in long lines to see the boats. The story was an eyeball-yanker.

In fact, N&O staff writer J. Andrew Curliss so cleanly nailed the state officials responsible for the trip that everyone came out with their hands up. The chairman of the State Ports Authority said the $30,000 state-paid trip was wrong, the ports director accepted blame for bad judgment and the governor (heaving a sigh of relief that he hadn't accepted his ferry invitation) demanded an accounting. Legislators unlucky enough to have been tagged as passengers scrambled to repay their share of the bash.

In fact, the condemnation was so universal that I wondered: is there anything wrong with this picture? Might the ferry cruise have had some merit?

At least one knowledgeable commentator thinks so. D.G. Martin, former chief lobbyist for the University of North Carolina system, said in a newspaper column that it's appropriate for state government to support events like the Tall Ships festival: "One reasonable way to support a gathering of ships would be for the state to send one of its own big ships to make an appearance. Since the state does not have a Navy, sending one of the largest ferryboats was a good way to boost the event and show state support."

As for using state money to wine and dine public officials, Martin wrote, "Having the state's elected officials at an event like Tall Ships is an important way to show support and to demonstrate to the event's sponsors that the event is important to the state and its government."

I'd have to disagree with that assessment by Martin (who is a friend). State support for the festival is justified, but not this way, for several reasons. The freebie cruise for bigwigs came against the backdrop onshore of angry commoners standing in the hot sun for hours, many ending up unable to see ships for which they had bought tickets. And the shanghaiing of the Floyd Lupton for five days disrupted ferry service upstream, where a smaller replacement ferry had to leave 39 vehicles at the dock.

I surveyed members of the N&O Reader Advisory Panel to ask their thoughts about the coverage. The overwhelming response was attaboys: "Given the hype and buildup to the Tall Ships festival and the subsequent problems with overcrowding," wrote Saunders Bennett of Pittsboro, "you wouldn't have been doing your job if you hadn't reported on a boatload of VIPs getting the best seats in the house at taxpayer expense and inconvenience."

Said Harvey Johnson of Hillsborough: "This is watchdog journalism at its best."

In fact, a few criticized The N&O for not reporting enough -- they wanted names and pictures of all 270 passengers. There was no passenger list; the paper has identified as many as it can verify and published 35 photos on its Web site, www.newsobserver.com (The picture gallery had received more than 68,000 hits as of Friday morning.)

To be sure, a few readers pooh-poohed the story and said the coverage was, as Mandy Matson of Cary put it, "a bit overboard."

"This was the biggest event to hit Eastern Carolina in years," said Allen Garner of Morrisville. "Our legislators should have been there. In force and flying the state flag high! The ferry was a great idea. What would you have them do...show up on a bus with box lunches?"

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