Janice Carlson had always seen herself as an ethical person. She took pride in always telling the truth, even when doing so was uncomfortable. She also insisted that those she supervised at Comstock Engineering Company (CEC) do the same. Carlson frequently admonished her employees to be "straight" with her. She was fond of saying, "I can accept mistakes. They happen. I can even overlook an occasional bad day. But I will not put up with lying." Close friends knew that Carlson’s distaste for lying grew out of an unhappy marriage she had endured for years with a husband who lied to her as a matter of course. When she could take her husband’s dishonesty no more, Carlson had filed for divorce.
