LETTERS

DEATH OF A POET

THANK YOU for allowing me to meet Judith McPheron through the article “Death of a Poet” (November). I compliment Michael Berryhill for an article well written – one that touched my mind, heart and soul. I feel Judith had a sense of humor, great courage and appreciated talent. 1 shall listen for Judith as I travel west over those mountains.

Patricia Gravalos

Carrollton



AMERICA’S COACH

UNFORTUNATELY, I read the Peter Gent article (“The Gamesman,” October) during the San Francisco game, while a man was trying to save the face of this city. Honest criticism is good; a hatchet job is cowardly. When you and America’s hero Gent decide on another smear job, pause and ask what you have done for your city. If I have to choose between Landry, and you and Gent, I’ll take Landry.

P.S. The trick of portraying Landry with a bull neck is about as subtle as a medium tank. You’re a lively group of fellows all right.

Kermil H. Hunter

Dallas



THE ARTICLE by Peter Gent was-to say the least -very unusual, but it does make one wonder if a person could go into the rent-a-pallbearer service and be successful. I am sure that is what Pete Gent’s relatives will be faced with someday. On the other hand, because of Landry’s contributions to his beliefs, his family will have a very opposite problem.

Larry Foster

Dallas



DEJA VU BRANIFF

(Editor’s note: The following two letters, received separately and addressed to D Magazine Publisher Bernard Kraft, were responses to one of our periodic circulation mailing campaigns.)



I RECENTLY RECEIVED an invitation to subscribe to your publication. The paper work sent to me is enclosed for your information.

In this paper work you ask, “Now, just what are you buying?” I can tell you, Mr. Kraft-NOT MUCH! Your February issue contained an article supposedly explaining the events that placed Braniff International in its current financial shape.

I can assure you that any relationship between fact and the malicious and misleading article you published was purely accidental. One can only assume that this would be typical of your publication in subsequent issues.

No, Mr. Kraft, I want nothing to do with your poor excuse for quality print journalism and I specifically request that I be removed from your mailing list.

Lewis A. Webb Jr.

First Officer

Braniff International



I RECENTLY RECEIVED an invitation to subscribe to your publication. The paper work sent to me is enclosed for your information.

In this paper work, you ask, “Now, just what are you buying?” I can tell you Mr. Kraft-NOT MUCH! Your February issue contained an article supposedly explaining the events that placed Braniff International in its current financial shape.

I can assure you that any relationship between fact and the malicious and misleading article you published was purely accidental. One can only assume that this would be typical of your publication.

No, Mr. Kraft, I want nothing to do with your poor excuse for quality print journalism and would ask to be removed from your mailing list.

Michael K. Carlozzi

Captain

Braniff International



The Editor replies: It’s always gratifying for us to receive the spontaneous outpouring of the original feelings of our readers. We’re totally confident that the people at Braniff are better at flying planes than they are at organizing letter-writing campaigns.



DEALING WITH DIVORCE



YOUR ARTICLE, “Special Report: Divorce,” (October) is excellent.

I’ll tell you how to curb the high divorce rate in Dallas. As a 51-year native Dallasite, 1 base the following on over 15 years experience in the personnel/people employee-relations profession and on my own wife who left me for her female lover after 21 years of marriage and two children:

1. Require both parties to communicate. I could not get Judge Theo Bedard todo this.

2. Require that the court order bothparties to have marriage counseling. Icould not get Judge Dee Brown Walker todo this.

3. Require a marriage counselor to seeboth parties. The Family Guidance Centercounselor would see only me.

4. Punish attorneys who deliberatelypromote divorce. The Dallas Bar Association Grievance Committee repeatedly declined to give me a hearing concerning badconduct information I possessed on an attorney.

Name withheld

Dallas



WHAT’S IN A NAME?



I FEEL MOVED to write you after reading your comments under “The Price of Knowing” on the “Editor’s Page” in the November issue. The way you describe Amy Cunningham is really quite patronizing. If she is emotional, is prone to burst into your office and make exuberant declarations about her work, and is “pixie-like,” it’s hardly appropriate to characterize her that way in print.

She’s a professional. Her work demonstrates it. She deserves to be referred to in print by her colleagues in a manner that portrays her as an adult.

As a woman who has worked very hard to overcome the “proud papa” response of male superiors and the undercutting effect it can have on one’s other professional relationships, I feel empathy for Ms. Cunningham.

My concern for her may be misplaced. 1 guess you’ll have to check it out with Ms. Cunningham.

Harriet A. Ferguson

Dallas



Ms. Cunningham replies: I’ve got to admit it: I don’t know how to feel about seeming “pixie-like” to my boss. Should I wear larger earrings? Co back to higher heels? In good conscience, I could call Mr. Stiteler bullish, bearish or dogged, but that would make him sound insensitive, which ordinarily he’s not. Words are always failing writers. I think he meant to imply that I am small, literally, not that I should be out cobbling shoes.



The Editor replies: Amy Cunningham, like most heterosexual females on this planet, chooses to manifest herself in a feminine countenance. That is her right. I, like most heterosexual males, choose to manifest myself in a masculine manner. That is my right. Amy’s decision to be “pixie-like” does not exclude her from being a part of the group for which I personally have the highest respect. She is a writer. She can think. You’ll never convince me that one has to be devoid of sexual identity in order to achieve professional parity in what many feminists characterize as a “man’s world.”



BELL AND BELO

THE ARTICLE, “Battling Ma Bell” (October) by Pat Bradley contains errors and misrepresents our system. Some of these errors are basic factual errors and some are subtle misunderstandings. Unfortunately, taken together or separately, they discredit the article. The more serious errors made by Ms. Bradley:

Our service does not cost our subscribers $50 a month, but $10 a month. I don’t know where Ms. Bradley got a figure other than the correct one.

Belo Information Systems Online Network (BISON) does not offer “a few stories from The News.” Our news division handles an average of 150 stories a night during the week. On the weekends, it handles an average of 250 stories a night – virtually every story The News offers. In addition, BISON offers news stories from an Associated Press wire service specially designed for videotex systems like ours.

Perhaps the most unusual error is Ms. Bradley’s reference to my office “across from the city room.” The fact is, my office (and the office in which the interview was conducted) is one floor up and across the building from the city room.

Another, more subtle error was Ms. Bradley’s use of the term “shopper’s guide” in reference to our plans for advertising on BISON. While that term is in quotes, I don’t think it originated with me. Ms. Bradley and I talked in only general terms about advertising. Moreover, her emphasis on the money-making aspects of our service was not in line with our discussion. While we expect BISON to eventually generate a profit, at the present time we are more committed to the concept of a videotex system than we are to any one advertising format. But then, I am not sure Ms. Bradley fully understood the concept of videotex. I say that because she quotes me indirectly as having said “the system is limited in what it can offer.” 1 can’t imagine myself or anyone in the information industry saying that. That attitude is a direct contradiction to the philosophy behind the development of information systems.

We are very excited by what we are doing at Belo Information Systems and we know the readership for articles like Ms. Bradley’s are very high. We hope your readers can be better served when you next decide to check in on the growth of the information industry.

Gean Holden

Director

Belo Information Systems

Pat Bradley replies: The Belo Information Service system does indeed cost $10 a month rather than $50; the error is regrettable. The reference to limits was intended to indicate the present Belo system, which does not offer, right now anyway, as much as other videotex services.



MORE COUCH VOUCHERS



AS A SUBSCRIBER to D Magazine for several years, I have always enjoyed the publication until now.

I wish to take exception to Mr. Philip Seib’s remarks about Mr. Kedric Couch (“The Estes Estates,” September). The facts are not accurate in many cases. For example, Mr. Couch is the Athletic Director for District 12AAAAA and has been since 1978. He presently owns over 50 pieces of property in Dallas County, which he has been acquiring since 1956.

Mr. Couch has been admired and respected by his players and fellow coaches for many years. 1 feel that Mr. Seib’s article has tainted this image, and I want to go on record as saying that D1SD should be very grateful for having such men in their employ as Kedric Couch.

Allen E. Hoskins

Dallas