Spectral lines: A sensitive topic

When we decided to tackle the article about the three Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) engineers (p. 69), our colleagues told us it would be a “no-win” situation for Spectrum. The case, now under litigation, presumably could be “won” by one side or the other, they noted, but Spectrum, if it published the article, would make friends on neither side. However, our objective wasn't to make friends or to curry favor, so we forged ahead, hoping to illuminate issues of some consequence to members of IEEE.