Turns out Carol was right--the seeds were too old! I tried everything including wrapping them in a wet paper towel in a ziplock bag. They just molded. I'm to blame. The package clearly has a germination date of 3/13. Fortunately Lowes and Home Depot had just restocked their all their seeds for 2015. The new seeds are germinating like crazy!

Lesson learned. Seeds do have a shelf life, and for lettuce it is something less than 1-1/2 yrs.

Papa Jim.