Is the Herald dumbing down? Below are a sampling of the many thoughtful notes I received in response to my column about the Page 1 story mix, plus some answers.

But first let me address other letters that mention items that might lead some to say that the Herald and its ombudsman are just plain dumb.

Budget and economic news dominate today, but Darius Nevin rightfully complained that perspective is often lacking on numbers. He cited a story that said: ``Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez told National Public Radio an increase is all but `inevitable' to plug a budget gap of between $350 million to $400 million.''

``I think you would agree,'' Mr. Nevin wrote, ``that more information is needed to understand the relevance of $350 million to the Miami-Dade budget. . . . What percent of the proposed budget is the `gap'?''

Truth is, Herald editors and reporters are some of the smartest people I know. But in the rush of deadlines, or being too close to a story, journalists sometimes overlook the need to give readers perspective on just what the numbers mean.

Aminda ``Mindy'' Marques, senior editor for news, says even though that percentage breakdown was addressed in other stories, you can't assume that every reader has read every other story. ``It's worth reminding reporters of that,'' she said.

I, meanwhile, was left feeling a bit dull when reader Harold Kurte asked where is Section C in the Sunday paper. I felt better after I asked editors and production managers and none caught what Mr. Kurte did: There is no Sunday Section C most of the year. As packaging manager Jeff Sauls explained to me, there are two sports sections (C and D) that run Sundays and Mondays during football season. Tuesday through Saturday, Section C is business news. But business on Sundays runs in Section E, titled Money. Why? Sections A through D are reserved for late news and printed on deadline every night in a single press run. All other sections are printed earlier. There is little breaking business news for Sundays, but football . . . well, you know.

While we're on the subject, it should also be noted that there is no Section C on Mondays. That is because business news runs in the tabloid-sized Business Monday section, which is also printed early.

A STUMPER

Then Leo Bueno of Coral Gables made me hit my head with this stumper: He was reading a front-page story in the business section titled, ``New consumer agency ahead?'' It and two other stories continued on page 2. Which of these inside headlines is the story he was reading: a) ``Treasury spells out plan's detail''; b) ``Justice Dept. demands UBS client list''; or c) ``Consumer confidence dips for state, nation''?

``Just having to guess at making the connection between the title and the story requires a tiny bit of unnecessary effort, a minor annoyance that can be avoided by using titles that more closely match the original ones,'' Mr. Bueno rightly said. ``Even better still, why not simply caption the continuation columns with the original title, so we don't have to guess?''

PAGE-1 LINEUP

As for the story mix on Page 1, it has been more national, international and serious for the last two weeks, with fewer light local stories, but Executive Editor Anders Gyllenhaal said that the standards for picking what goes on the front page have not changed.

``There has been a lot on Latin America because there are important stories now from there, such as in Honduras,'' he said. Local remains paramount, but the standard, he said, is to pick ``stories that are important to our readers and that touch life in South Florida.''

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