Eagles Over the Kennebec

I think a number of comments have hit on the nub of the issue: The idea that using "said" more than once is a case of dreaded evil word repetition has become entrenched in the educational establishment*, leading some beginning writers to go to absurd lengths to avoid it. The attempt to counteract that has, in turn, become distorted to the opposite extreme by many writing communities.

*Many teachers, not all teachers.