after the lawsuit was reported in the "columbus ledger-enquirer", the newspaper reported receiving "the highest volume of traffic ever by a single story in the history of ledger-enquirer.com, including written threats against the newspaper", with nearly half a million new readers and hundreds of e-mails. the threats prompted an increase in security around the courthouse where cook's case was heard, as well as precautions being taken to protect the author of the newspaper's reports on the case. executive editor ben holden noted: "the chatter had the feel of a righteous cause – almost a religious cause – because some people hate this president."