The Seattle Times posted an editor’s note this morning, correcting and removing the first three paragraphs of a June 24 story on the $25-per-employee “head tax”—used to fund pedestrian and bike street improvements—by reporter Emily Hefter.

The since-removed section (which can still be found in Google's cache):

Seattle's "head tax" costs Carl Hoeflick less than $1,000 a year — $25 annually for each of the employees at his Duwamish manufacturing company.

That's not a lot of money, but still the tax infuriates him. He sees it as a sign the city doesn't show small-business owners enough support.

"The amount is not significant, OK," said Hoeflick, whose company, Katskill Engineering, makes gaskets for vehicles. "But it is the idea of the city sticking it to us, having no clue and having no concern. ... It is an unnecessary burden on us."

As it turns out, Carl Hoeflick doesn’t exist. He is a fictional person, created by a Seattle Times commenter who called Hefter to bitch about the head tax, claiming to be a disgruntled business owner.

Last week, while I was researching the head tax, I called Hefter to try to find out more about Hoeflick. I couldn’t find any information on Hoeflick or his company Katskill Engineering in the phone book or on Google. I called the Department of Licensing, which had no record of Hoeflick or his company, and then called Hefter.

A week later, the Times issued this correction:

The article by Emily Heffter, published June 24 on Page B3, referred to a Carl Hoeflick, owner of a Duwamish-area manufacturing company called Katskill Engineering. After an inquiry from a reporter from The Stranger newspaper who was trying to reach Hoeflick, Times editors determined that neither that person nor his business exists.

Further research revealed that the person Heffter interviewed by telephone, and who initiated the contact, was in fact Edward Seeto of Seattle. Seeto is a frequent commenter on various Web sites, including seattletimes.com. He was the subject of a King County District Court anti-harassment order in 2005, an order sought by and granted to an official of the Seattle Monorail Project.

In a telephone call Thursday, Seeto said he had misrepresented himself to our reporter. He said he did so because "There are people in King County who would retaliate against me."

The Times erred seriously in not confirming the caller's identity before the story was published. We require that the identities of all sources be verified before publication.

As Erica has reported over at Publicola, the Times' editorial board has refused to meet with head tax supporters, and has taken a firm position against the tax.

While editorial boards and news content are supposed to be separate, it certainly is curious that the Times would fail to double check a source who calls in to provide quotes supporting the board's position.