Former city editor and columnist for the Texas City Sun (circulation: 6000). After criticizing President Bush for heading to Nebraska during the attacks on September 11 ("flying around the country like a scared child, seeking refuge in his mother's bed after having a nightmare."), and calling Bush's September 20th speech "vague" and "trite" in his September 22 column, the letters and calls complaining started coming in. Public outcry led publisher Les Daughtry Jr to publish an apology on page one the next day, noting that publishing the column had been a "grave error in judgement" and, on a personal note, reading it had made him physically ill. He also wrote his own column praising Bush's leadership. Gutting, who wrote columns regularly as part of his job, noted that the newspaper had no policy requiring prior approval of columns before publication. He was fired September 25, for unspecified reasons.

Sources: Bill Carter and Felicity Barringer, "In Patriotic time, dissent is muted," New York Times, September 28, 2001.
Les Daughtry, Jr., "Bush's leadership has been superb," Texas City Sun, September 23, 2001.
Margaret Fosmore, "South Bend native fired after column critical of Bush," South Bend Tribune, September 29, 2001.