I expected something entirely different when I recently called Tom Kocal, publisher of the Prairie Advocate, the weekly newspaper in Lanark in Carroll County.

Over the last few weeks, Kocal has been writing publisher notes questioning the validity of President Barack Obama's long-form birth certificate.

"The Obama birth certificate released by the White House, on [its] website, proved to be a doctored fake, and we can prove it, like thousands of other graphic artists, computer experts, grade school children, etc.," he wrote. "There is no opinion in this; it is fact."