Letters are posted as we receive them during the week, and before they are printed in the paper, so check back frequently to see new letters. If you'd like to send a letter to the editor, use this postmarks submission form, or email your letter directly to mail@austinchronicle.com. Thanks for your patience.

Dear Editor,
    I wanted to commend Michael King, Jordan Smith, and Jana Birchum on your articles covering the Kellers' case [“Believing the Children,” News, March 27]. These stories require significant time and effort to be reported accurately. But it is critical these shameful injustices are brought into full public view and may be the only hope remaining for people like the Kellers. While most of the multiperpetrator, multivictim child sexual abuse hysteria cases of the 1990s have been discredited and overturned, a handful of innocents languish in prison.
    There is another highly questionable San Antonio case dating from the same time period that has received minimal critical media attention. Four young Chicanas were convicted of ritualistic sexual assaults on a 7-year-old girl and 9-year-old girl. Fifteen years later, all four women remain steadfast in their claims of innocence. There are many other factors surrounding the case that raise considerable doubt about their guilty verdicts. A complete review of the case can be found at www.fourliveslost.com.

Dear Editor,
    Thank you, Austin Chronicle and Jordan Smith, for the amazing work done with the story "Believing the Children" [News, March 27]. It becomes crystal clear that providing a voice to those without one or, worse yet, those whose voices have been removed is the true charter of the press. This story is a perfect demonstration of that purpose. Thank you for the service you have provided. With the light given, it now becomes the responsibility of the people to right the injustice. Please keep up the great work. For a free paper, your service is invaluable.

Dear Editor,
    Why are conservatives such cold-blooded killers when it comes to their Deadwood paranoia? Not all Americans wish to be accidentally shot by crazy rednecks who use guns as security blankies.

Dear Editor,
    As temperatures continue to rise through April, many Texans will begin to plan their trips to a more desirable climate. I am all for a camping trip to Colorado; trust me, I have spent many a summer driving north toward Dalhart and Texline, then onward through Clayton and Raton in New Mexico. On an old wooden plank, the sign reads: “Welcome to colorful Colorado.” Here in Austin we have a sign posted not on a worn-down wooden plank but on the backs of many. Honestly, I am sick of the saying; I am tired of seeing it everywhere I go. Listen to me, the town in which I grew up in is not “weird.” It’s not even close. Austin is “home.” We should conduct a survey of everyone who owns a “Keep Austin Weird” shirt. I’m quite sure that the results would show that the majority of the trendy shirt owners are either recent transplants or tourists, who are all contributing to my MoPac’s (Loop 1 to you tourists) 4 o’clock traffic. Tourism, although it creates good business for many, also creates some problems.
    So here it goes. To my fellow Austinites: I challenge you. Instead of traveling north during the warm months that follow, try taking off your “hip” shirts and jump in the lake while there is still water in it.
    Even though I’m sick of the T-shirts, I fully agree with the mission. During this economical and ongoing environmental crisis that we are all a part of, I feel that we should keep our resources stateside. The mountains northwest of us will always be there, but the cool refreshing waters of our area lakes may not. The beginnings for a global economy boost must first start locally.

Dear Editor,
    Isn't it long overdue for the ATX's rap/hip-hop artists to get some shine and not these cats that's already eatin' good?! I've performed at South by Southwest more than five times, and it is the same story every year. Big artists, big stage. Local artist, small stage! How 'bout an all ATX lineup at Auditorium Shores?

Dear Editor,
    I'm surprised you have not done a piece on the closing of the Rhizome Collective by the city yet. I think we can all agree that it is a pretty important addition to our community, what with Bikes Across Borders, Inside Books Project, KPWR community radio, and Food Not Bombs all housed there and shutting down along with it. They are not closing forever, but I for one, as a volunteer for Inside Books, hate to think of all those prisoners' letters and requests for books going unanswered. Please let this great and compassionate city know about what we can all do to help the Rhizome Collective and its programs continue to help our community.

   [Editor's note: See “No Home for Rhizome … for Now,” News, April 3, for more on the Rhizome Collective.]

Dear Editor,
    Re: “Believing the Children” [News, March 27]: Your article is flawed and makes a number of incorrect assumptions. Since I was present for the trial and clearly you were not, let me address some of your concerns. Firstly, Randy Noblitt was originally asked to advise the prosecution. The Fran’s Day Care case followed close on the heels of the McMartin Preschool case. The prosecution was interested in avoiding the mistakes of McMartin. Randy advised the prosecution to appoint different therapists for each of the alleged child victims and to forbid parents from sharing information about their children and the case with one another. As a result, the children were able to disclose in their own time without pressure of danger of contamination, and therapists were free to draw their own conclusions without preconceived notions about what may or may not have transpired. Secondly, Randy informed the prosecution of the nature of ritual abuse and the fact that much of it is founded on duplicity – the deceit practiced by perpetrators to confuse the victim and to dupe them into believing that they (the perpetrators) have supernatural powers. Thirdly, Randy advised the prosecution to focus on the sexual abuse case for which there was ample evidence. It was the defense that raised the specter of ritual abuse in an attempt to discredit the child victims. The defense introduced Richard Gardner’s book Sex Abuse Hysteria: Salem Witch Trials Revisited (1990) into evidence. The prosecution called Randy to testify to respond to the allegations made in the book, including the one that all adults are potential pedophiles. Finally, there was considerable evidence to support the allegations against Fran and Dan Keller including their own testimony, their attempts to flee arrest, and other documentation that I cannot share since I don’t know what the prosecution’s position is on this matter. However, suffice it to say that the prosecution had a very strong case, with or without Randy’s testimony. To my knowledge, the defense was not denied access to any information or evidence. Rather, they appeared (to me) to take a rather blasé approach to their defense of the Kellers, perhaps operating under the assumption that the children would not be believed.

   [News Editor Michael King responds: One would hope that Pamela and Randy Noblitt would eventually come to regret their roles in the Fran's Day Care case, as well as their (apparently continuing) amplification of the satanic ritual abuse panic. Whatever Pamela Noblitt now claims about the proceedings or Randy Noblitt's supposed advice, the accusing children's parents both evoked and shared the increasingly exaggerated children's tales, the therapists overlapped, and there was no physical evidence of abuse, either by the Kellers or the numerous unrelated people placed under suspicion for no reason at all. Now Pamela Noblitt makes vague reference to unidentified "documentation" unrecorded in the case files and attempts to diminish the satanic aspect of the case. Yet according to contemporary accounts, Randy Noblitt was telling reporters that the children who denied abuse on the stand were robotic "alters" put in place by the Kellers, who were somehow delivering satanic hand commands during the trial. Those and similarly outrageous claims were either calculated deceptions or hysterical nonsense; perhaps the Noblitts know which.]

Dear Editor,
    In their “one year later” stories about the raid on the Yearning for Zion Ranch in El Dorado, The Salt Lake Tribune and the San Angelo Standard-Times both report that Texas Child Protective Services say if they were faced with what the Department of Family and Protective Services spokesman Patrick Crimmins called “the exact fact situation” again, they would do exactly the same thing again – take away all the children [“More FLDS Woes for CPS,” News, Oct. 31, 2008].
    But the Texas Supreme Court ruled that taking away all the children under these exact circumstances is illegal. Did CPS forget that small fact – or do they just plan to break the law on purpose next time?

Hi,
    My name is Danny, and I'm from Austin originally. Now I live in Washington, D.C., and I have a request.
    Is there some way that the Chronicle could promise not to have a "Best Maryland Crab Cake in Austin" category if Washington CityPaper will promise to stop having a "D.C.'s Best Tex-Mex"? www.washingtoncitypaper.com/bestof/2009/foodanddrink/staffpicks/best-tex-mex.
    Chili's? Really?
    God help me, and get me home to Chuy's, Guero's, or Matt's El Rancho.

Hi Louis,
    I wanted to start by saying that South by Southwest was one of the reasons I moved to Austin a few months ago, so thanks. It also brought me a good bit of work, which has been scarce these days. I have been hearing rumors of hostility from the SXSW organizers toward concurrent nonofficial events, and I hope they aren't true, because I believe that every well-organized event that happens here during that time only ends up benefiting everyone (other than the usual resenters). Using legal channels to unfairly destroy business competition (which really isn't competing that much anyway) would be truly despicable, so I hope that the rumors I've heard are merely that.
    I am mostly writing because Daniel Mottola's mention of the Safe Passing Bill [“Cyclists Hope for Safe Passage,” News, March 27] reminded me of a little scrape (which may have been harassment) I had a week ago with a member of Austin's finest while riding my bicycle. I wonder what the local ordinances are in regard to this:
    I was riding my bicycle at about 10pm in the evening, sometime last week, on the stretch of Oltorf between Lamar and South First, heading to the coffee shop. I had just finished a steep uphill and was readjusting a sketchbook in my jacket pocket so that it wouldn't fall out, thus I wasn't exactly speeding and was riding one-handed. Nor was I trudging at a brisk crawl. Traffic was almost nonexistent, but pedestrians abounded on the narrow, walled, and very difficult sidewalk along that section of street. I was riding in the street, since the sidewalk was more or less a waste of time. One police car passed by me in a hurry, and then another police car silently pulled up behind and to the left of me and abruptly shouted in the loudspeaker, "Get off the road if you don't know how to ride your bicycle!" The speaker was practically right in my ear and startled me so much that I almost crashed. He then turned off into one of the neighborhoods, and I nervously negotiated the sidewalk for a while, until I could no longer stand the snail's pace. Was I in the wrong for riding on the street? I was under the impression that I had a legal right to do so and that riding on the sidewalk is generally discouraged. If I was indeed within my rights, then I would like to air a complaint and ask the police to be a bit more understanding toward those of us who don't always favor the "more power" approach.

Dear Editor,
    I worked with Dr. Shekhar Govind during my graduate studies at the University of Texas at Arlington [“In Memoriam,” Arts, Feb. 6]. He was a very nice human being, always going the extra length to help everybody. I have such wonderful memories of him. May God rest his soul in peace.

Dear Austin Chronicle,
    I find it a bit bizarre that aside from a small bit in "Headlines" [News, March 27] and a mention in "After a Fashion" [March 27], there is no other speak of Stephen Moser's meltdown in the latest issue. He [allegedly] set fire to a car in a parking garage! In a fur coat! Terminal illness aside (which excuses nothing), this guy has much to answer for. A darling of society and fashion mavericks of Austin, Stephen is expected, in my view, to behave just like the rest of us. Don't shield him – report about it! I read his column every week and expect the Chronicle to report about this affair fairly as it would would any other issue it covers.

   [Louis Black responds: The incident involving Stephen Moser was noted because he writes for us. In general, however, this is not the kind of story the Chronicle covers. Therefore we didn't pay special attention to it, though we noted it. In no way can I explain or justify Stephen's actions. They are none of my business. You are wandering onto my turf when you state, "A darling of society and fashion mavericks of Austin, Stephen is expected, in my view, to behave just like the rest of us." Criminal and harmful activities are never to be condoned, but in having Stephen do the column, I in no way expected him to act like the "rest of us." When he started the column, we were aware and regarded as attributes that he was over the top, outrageous, outspoken, and given to the grand gesture.]

Dear Editor,
    I want to commend The Austin Chronicle and Jordan Smith for the excellent article about the gross injustice perpetrated against Danny and Fran Keller [“Believing the Children,” News, March 27]. I will always remember that as one of the sorriest episodes in Austin's history. The outcome of that witch hunt has troubled me for years, and I have often wondered whatever became of the Kellers. I am glad to hear that the Innocence Project of Texas has taken up their cause; it is long overdue, and I hope that someday justice is truly served. The abuse that those children suffered came not from the Kellers but from their so-called therapist, their parents, the Austin Police Department, and the District Attorney’s Office. Thank you for bringing this case back into the public eye.

Dear Editor,
    I would like to congratulate Stephen Moser for finally joining Austin cyclists in our efforts to reduce the number of automobiles on Austin roads. It took awhile for him to come over to our side, but, oh boy, when he did, wow! Solidarity brother!

Dear Editor,
    Now I get it. "Hope" means foolish resolve as Barack Obama escalates the quagmire called Afghanistan, where no foreign invader has ever succeeded. "Change" means reneging on a campaign promise and keeping 50,000 troops in Iraq, indefinitely.

Dear Editor,
    Re: The scuttlebutt surrounding the South by Southwest 09 screening of Drunken Angel: The Legend of Blaze Foley: The filmmaker responds: Having come to film from the technical side (I'm an electrical engineer, an Aggie but please don't hold that against me), I can vouch for the SXSW Film technical crew that what seems like a simple thing to do (change a bulb) is in fact very complicated. High-power, high-definition projectors are also highly technical and require calibration that can only be done in a careful manner. No one wants to look at a red-faced person with yellow teeth talking onscreen for very long. I can appreciate Mandy's righteous anger, as Blaze is dear to all of us (Louis Black included; he loves Blaze, knew him, and has been a huge supporter of Blaze's music and story). We were looking forward to a film that has been many years in the making. But to blame a highly unlikely malfunction on any person or entity is not productive in the least. I can honestly say that if I had been in charge, I would have made the same decisions, and I'd have been just as devastated with the results. Both the documentary programmer and the producer for SXSW Film contacted me the next morning and expressed their sadness and asked to meet with me to go over the details and collaborate on a plan that can address such an event for future Festivals, to make sure this does not happen again. They also bent over backward to arrange a second screening at the Paramount (which I foolishly declined). So I applaud SXSW for its response and handling of this unfortunate event. The real bottom line: We had a wonderful screening later that night with all the out-of-towners in my back yard with beer and Blaze (and Mandy Mercier did get to see it [“Postmarks,” March 27]). Also, attending as many of the SXSW Film panels that I could, I gained a tremendous amount of advice on what to do next for this, my first film, and met so many amazing people that I have absolutely no regrets or complaints. Thank you, SXSW Film for a truly memorable experience, and I look forward to bringing my second film to you. As for the money side, SXSW brings my video-equipment rental business so much revenue each year that I have to hire additional help during the Festival. So I guess I'm also one of the lucky few who get "billions" of dollars from the Festival.