Letters to the Editor

Go Undercover

Upon reading the editor’s note to the “Disappointed in Sutton” letter [March 2007 issue], I felt compelled to give your magazine staff some feedback of my own. Many people cannot afford the luxury of dining at the same restaurant a number of times — thereby giving the restaurant a favorable review even though some of the dinners may have missed the mark.

Could it be that your food editor is recognized at different restaurants? This would certainly increase the chances that the review would be positive. I feel the “undercover roving reviewer” idea works best and the restaurant should be visited and reviewed only once. Hit or miss.

Deb Brisebois
Amherst

Blowing Smoke?

Oh! Come on! Please! I know exactly why marijuana is so feared by our government [Capitol Offenses, April 2007]. In the middle of the 1960s our government associated millions of American marijuana smokers with the peace movement and questioning the war in Vietnam. Apparently altering one’s perception that it might bring about questioning the status quo is illegal in this country.

Pharmaceutical companies stand to lose hundreds of billions of dollars once the American public finds out that marijuana (a weed that can be grown in your yard for nothing) can cure depression in 90 seconds while Zoloft will take weeks to see only minor improvement.

I have chronic back pain, had it since an operation in 1968, smoked marijuana and gone! It was my lifetime secret. In 1998 I was caught growing it in my closet and got two years in a federal prison to teach me that marijuana will ruin my life. You know I was doing quite well, thank you very much!

In pain, I now do laundry and wash dishes for a living because no one will hire an ex-felon. Go figure!

David Schaub
Woodstock, Vt.

I Before E

Thank you for the honor of being chosen as one of N.H.’s “Top Docs.” Although this is the third time I received this honor, each time is really special, so thank you again.
I am writing to inform you that my name this year for some reason was misspelled. It is Siegel, not Seigel. I am not sure how this can be addressed after the publishing, but hope that you can correct your files for potential future publications.

Once again, thank you for this honor,

Joshua A. Siegel, M.D.
Exeter

Not Top for Her

I look forward to getting your magazine, but have to tell you: Twice that I have noticed, one of the “best” doctors in your annual listing [“Top Doctors,” April 2007] is one I would never recommend, and I wonder why no others in his field show up.

He seriously misdiagnosed me because he refused to listen, and even scolded me for giving a consulting surgeon “too much information.” The course based on the misdiagnosis led to pain; the “too much information” led to correct diagnosis and treatment. His eventual response was to evade responsibility and, when I asked for office notes, to tell me that his dictating equipment had malfunctioned — coincidentally only during the most critical times.

Everyone makes mistakes. But a doctor who won’t listen and won’t acknowledge error is not in my judgment an excellent doctor.

Ann Somers
Brookline

PSU, Not PSC

Greetings from Plymouth State University. On page 32 of your March 2007 edition, PSU was erroneously referred to as Plymouth State College. Our institution of higher learning became a university in 2003.

We appreciate the coverage you provided and if you ever have any questions about the university, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Kevin D. Anderson
Plymouth State University
Plymouth

Salt II Treaty?

Thank you, Rick Broussard, Editor, for printing “Rubbing Salt?” in your April edition.
News outlets many times only report “peace” agendas and “against the war” stories, although personally I’ve written (and know of many others as well) many rebuttal articles to many newspapers who don’t print “the other side of the story.”

While peace groups spent a year organizing their March 17 march in Washington, D.C., according to the National Park Services, only 5-10,000 showed up. Pro win the war, support the troops and various veterans’ groups organized in only six weeks and, according to the same source, had an estimated 30,000 people in attendance.

It’s disconcerting that so many people believe what they read in their newspapers and hear on TV, although much of it is very biased and inaccurate. It’s too bad that so many people are so naïve, and it certainly makes me wonder about the “polls” taken about “get out of Iraq,” etc. Fox News was the only news station that actually reported the numbers of Americans who showed up in support of winning the war and how few peace supporters showed up.

This is journalism at its finest and you and your magazine should be very proud for printing all sides of a story.

Judy Paris
Bradford

Typo Graphic

That was a great interview [Jodi Picoult, March 2007], but there is one thing to correct: Graphic Novels are a format. The word “genre” is what you would apply to the kinds of stories like superheroes or memoirs.

John Shableski
Graphic Novels Coordinator
Brodart Co.