| The
Elusive Mrs. Thomas |
| Last December, a woman named Rebecca Thomas wrote a letter
to the editor of The Observer. She fulfilled the basic requirements
of submitting a letter. The type-written page contained her
name, home address and a signature. |
| The letter, in my opinion, was unremarkable. It criticized
Herndon Town Councilman William B. Tirrell's suggestion that
town documents not be translated into other languages. Ms.
Thomas's letter was one of several that criticized Mr. Tirrell
around that period of time. This letter followed one published
in September that criticized the Town Council for spending
time and town funds to recognize the birthdays of its members. |
| The problem with Ms. Thomas's letters is that they apparently
did not come from Ms. Thomas. Shortly after the publication
of the December letter, I received a couple of phone calls
questioning who Ms. Thomas was and requesting contact information
for her. |
| Upon closer inspection, the address provided was vague.
The letter writer had provided the address of an apartment
building in town, but not the unit number. I called the apartment
rental office and was told that no member of the staff recognized
the name. |
| So I went knocking on doors. While I was never successful
in meeting everyone in the apartment building, I met most.
And they all said they didn't know of a woman by that name
living in the building. The rental staff confirmed again recently
that they know of no one of that name living in the building. |
| If Rebecca Thomas does live in the town and I have failed
to locate her, I would encourage her to stop by and see me.
However, the evidence now points to this letter being a fake,
and it's a fake that hurts the entire town. |
| The Observer does not print anonymous letters to the editor.
We believe citizens should feel strongly enough in their comments
to back them up with their names. Signing a letter with a
name provides for accountability and accuracy. |
| While we require people submitting letters to provide names,
home addresses and, usually, a telephone number, we don't
necessarily investigate each submission unless the letters
is controversial, the letter writer is unknown to us or the
information provided causes us to question its accuracy. |
| During the past few town election years, for example, we
had several writers try some fairly creative ways of submitting
letters with fabricated names, and we scrutinized each letter
more intently during that period. One man tried to submit
a letter under the name of his daughter, age 3. Another person
tried to submit a letter with an odd street address, when
all the addresses on that street were even. |
| The opinions expressed in the “Rebecca Thomas” letters were
not controversial. They did not put forth opinions that were
inflammatory or likely to create a large public backlash.
The writer did not have to fear retribution or rude behavior
by expressing these opinions. |
| The letters submitted under the name of Rebecca Thomas would
have been all the more stronger if they had been signed by
the writer. The fact that they were submitted with the intent
to trick the public destroys the message and makes it more
difficult for us to trust other opinions we read or hear about
relating to our town. |
| It is a sad reflection of distrust in this community that
The Observer will have to take more serious steps in order
to verify the authenticity of letters before their publication.
|
| Even more troubling, it is a sad reflection on the town
that some people would like to influence public opinion while
hiding behind a curtain of anonymity. |
