SUBJECT: Contact Info AND I “editorially added” a bit to be balanced!
Thank you for writing back, Augustine: I AM GOING TO ANSWER IN CAPITAL LETTERS BELOW TO MAKE THE READING EASIER:In a message dated Wed, 15 Jan 2003 11:29:24 PM Eastern Standard Time, RhoBlaze writes:>hi, gordon.>i want to let you know that your letter will be edited for journalism style. your content will not be removed. **THANK YOU!** also, we need bios to identify those who submit work or letters. please send me a number HOME:863-688-9880 WORK: 863-686-3411 OR 863-687-6141; I’M NOT AT HOME MUCH, AND ALMOST NEVER IN THE OFFICE, BUT MY FATHER CAN TAKE A MESSAGE FROM 8AM TO 8PM AT MY WORK NUMBER, BOBBY WATTS APEED SHOP AND AUTO PARTS, 833 N LAKE PARKER AVE, LAKELAND, FL 33801 – FOR YOU TO CALL ME BACK, BECAUSE IT’S EASIER FOR YOU TO LEAVE A MESSAGE AT MY WORK THAN TO CATCH ME AT HOME – MY DAD SELLS AUTO PARTS. i can reach you, your age, I AM ABOUT 36 AND 1/2; BORN ON 16 MAY 1966, WHICH FELL ON A MONDAY; >classification, I AM AN ALUMNI OF FSU hometown, LAKELAND, FLORIDA email where you can be reached, ***GWW1210@AOL.COM*** and major I HAVE MY BS DEGREE (DOUBLE MAJOR) IN BIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL SCIENCES – FSU, CLASS OF 2000. FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH, I WAS FAIRLY WELL KNOWN AT COLLEGE – MANY PROFESSORS AND STUDENTS WILL REMEMBER ME! — OH, ONE MORE THING: i WOULD LIKE TO ADD TO MY LETTER SUBMISSION A NEW FINDING: “WHILE I AM GLAD THAT RYAN PARDONED SOME PEOPLE WHOSE GUILT WAS IN DOUBT (DEMOCRATS SMILE), I LATER READ THAT HE TOOK SOME COLD-BLOODED MURDERERS OFF OF DEATH ROW, AND COMMUTED THEIR SENTENCE TO LIFE (HENCE, REPUBLICANS SHOULD SMILE AT MY COMMENT). MY CONCLUSION IS THAT, WHILE RYAN MADE A NECESSARY CORRECTION, HE WENT OVERBOARD IN SOME CASES, AND WE MUST BE CAREFUL TO LEARN FROM BOTH HIS MISTAKES AND SUCCESES – THE SUCCESSES BRING THE HARD WORK AND BRAVERY OF PUTTING TOGETHER A BI-PARTISAN COMMISSION TO REVIEW THE PROBLEMS – AND THEN THE COURAGE TO ADJUST FOR SOME CASES WHERE THE GUILT WAS IN DOUBT!” ~~~***~~~ rHO, SORRY FOR THE EXTRA LENGTH – i KNOW MY LETTER MAY HAVE ALREADY BEEN EDITED FOR LENGTH, BUT I FOUND SOME NEW CRITISISMS THAT WERE NOT APPARENT AT FIRST; IT WILL BE INTERESTING TO SEE HOW MY “NEWER, BALANCED” LETTER IS EDITED; HERE IS THE ORIGINAL BELOW SO YOU WON’T HAVE TO GO FISHING FOR BOTH HALVES, THAT ABOVE BEING THE “SECOND HALF” OF MY LETTER:
Dear Augustine Rho,
I submitted a letter to the editor (see below), and normally I just let it go through the process, but becasue I so rarely submit to the FAMUAN, here is an extra copy. As you say in your recent story, “seize every moment,” or as I put it: “I’m not putting all my eggs in one basket.” Thank you, and I hope my feedback was an encouragement to the FAMU’s student writers. –GW
A cut from the FAMUAN website acknowledging my letter:Thank you! Your letter was submitted. An editor may now read the letter and decide whether to place it in the paper or not.
A copy of your letter appears below : ——————————————————————————–Subject : Dominique Drake’s Story, “Ryan’s death row decisions flawed” Email : Gww1210@aol.com Letter : I am writing to Dominique Drake, regarding her story about the en-masse death-row commutation by Illinois Gov. George Ryan. (But, I would also like the editor to consider my short letter for publications in “Letters to the Editor.”) First, I am glad that FAMU, long characterized as a “liberal” or Democratic-leaning college, is speaking up for conservative viewpoints: I am a conservative Republican. However, like Gov. Ryan, I am also fair. To that end, I would like to offer a possible correction her story: I heard Gov. Ryan on a news program make claims that he did indeed review, at least to some extent, all 167 death-row case-files. (Proof of his examination can be found in the differing treatments he gave different cases.)
In conclusion, I support the death penalty, but only if it is not done in such a way that innocents are put to death (as recent DNA evidence has shown) – or if there are differing treatments based on a racial, gender, political, religious, age, or poverty status of the “convicted.”
Gordon W. Watts PS: Word count is about 174, not counting the signature portion here http://hometown.aol.com/gww1210 Gww1210@aol.com
>>thanks again for your submission.>>augustine rho