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,
    Just a few notes about The Austin Chronicle Adult Spelling Bee, held Thursday, May 17, at Threadgill's. After the first round weed-out 20-word test, which involved circling words the contestants felt were misspelled, the names of 53 folks who would be moving on to the next round – another weeding-out l9-word test – were read. The contestants who were moving on included those who had missed three words, two words, one, and none missed. The words on that first test didn't seem terribly difficult, and after the list was read out, several contestants asked the folks in charge to recheck their test papers. Many people, however, had left after learning that they hadn't moved on.
    As it turned out, several of those who requested a "recount" had in fact been scored as missing words that they had not, and were sent on to the next round after all. My husband asked to see both of our tests, and I had missed three of the words on the first test, not seven as my test had been marked. My husband had missed four or five, not eight as his own test had been marked. I was sent on to the next round but eliminated there. But at least two of the people who had been incorrectly eliminated on the first round, however, went on to pass the second test and on to the final round. One woman who challenged the scoring was told that her test had been "lost" but eventually it was located and she went on to the final round after passing the second.
    It seems probable that some of the people who left after the first round indicated they'd been eliminated but who hadn't challenged their scores may well have actually scored better than they thought and therefore might have moved on in the competition, with perhaps an entirely different outcome in the bee in the end. Geoff Thevenot, the winner of the bee, is a fantastic speller but he might have faced other opponents in the final round than he did, had the scoring in the first test been properly done for everyone.
    Apparently some odd system was used to score the written tests, as explained to my husband by one of the persons in charge of the bee. (Who, interestingly, explained to my husband that "All of the mistakes were made by one grader"!) Perhaps next year a simpler sort of scoring system, such as a template, might produce more accurate results, with everyone scoring the tests completely understanding how the test-scoring should be done.
    Messy, Chronicle!

   [Editor's note: That first written test was messy indeed and we apologize for the confusion. We did have a grading snafu and were very relieved when participants came up and asked us to regrade their exams. Two of the participants that got their tests regraded went on to the finals and made the top three. Our bad. Every year we do our best and certainly learn a few things along the way, even after doing the spelling bee for 10 years. Next year we will do better and more importantly, hopefully raise even more money for the Austin Public Library. In the meantime, keep on spelling.]

Dear Editor,
    Robert Vignaud, an amazingly gifted musician on the upright and electric bass, devoted husband and father, and a classic gentleman, passed from this life on May 4, just days short of his 61st birthday, from complications of liver disease ["Into the Mystic," Earache! Music blog, May 14]. His contributions to the local Austin music world, as well as in his home state of Louisiana, including time in the legendary BeauSoleil, are nothing short of staggering. While living in Austin and Lafayette, he played and recorded music of all styles with a vast number of different bands including the Art Band, Haywire, the Rivals, Black Tie, the Kenneth Ragsdale Orchestra, Nash Hernandez Orchestra, and swing time big bands, Charles Thibodeaux and the Austin Cajun Aces, the Shakers, Brian Cutean, Texas T's, Frenezi, Bonneville County Pine Box, High Chaparral, Primitive Moderns, Melancholy Ramblers, Bill and Bonnie Hearne, Gatling & Hoffpauir, and many others. He was a respected player who could always teach something to all he played with, just through his genuine and helpful nature. He will be missed by many, but surely never forgotten, by any. His family would like to encourage everyone to participate in an organ donor program, and give the gift of life to others in need. Visit Donate Life, at www.donatelifetexas.org.

Dear Editor,
    I think the Chronicle Restaurant Poll would be far more meaningful if you would print vote totals beside each restaurant listed in the results issue. The results in many areas are, to say the least, curious. It would make a big difference in judging the value of a ranking whether the winner received, say, nine votes or 500 votes. It would also help to explain the statistical anomaly that more than 16% of the winners were listed as ties. This is only believable if there is a very small sampling of voters, or if the magazine is manipulating the results. I have heard comments from several people in the food and beverage industry that the Chronicle "revises" the results to achieve advertising or other subjective aims. Publishing totals would confirm or debunk this theory held by many.
    Another interesting note is the selection of Ace Manning and Carter Wilsford at Péché as “Best Mixologist.” First, please call them bartenders. They themselves will tell you that the term "mixologist" is pretentious and offensive to a good bartender. Second, Ace Manning has not worked at Péché for more than a year and Carter Wilsford for more than eight months. Surely all the people who voted for them, who know them and Péché, would not have been unaware of this fact and listed them as at Péché. (By the way, I am not disputing that they deserved the honor. Both are among the very best bartenders in Austin.) It appears to be merely a regurgitation of previous year's results, not a current voters' selection. This alone makes me doubt all the other published results as being authentic.

   [Virginia B. Wood replies: Neither Special Issues Editor Kate X Messer nor I have anything to do with the advertising side of the Chronicle business and they do not have any input in the editorial side. However, looking at the restaurant ad portfolio represented in the weekly paper alongside the list of winners, my questions to Mr. Wehmeier would be this: If we were manipulating the data in favor of advertisers, wouldn't more of our regular advertisers be among the winners? And what other "subjective aims" could we possibly have?
Special Issues Editor Kate Messer replies: Ballot stuffing has been a problem with all polls at The Austin Chronicle – whether it be for the Music Poll in March, the Restaurant Poll, or our annual “Best of Austin” issue – for as long as I have been tabulating. We do not publish concrete poll data or vote totals due to how that can influence ballot stuffing. In the case of ties, some poll categories receive four-digit vote totals and others as low as two-digit. Ties are determined on a scale relative to that. In some cases, ties are exact numerical ties and in other cases, the number of votes fall within single-digit differences and are called ties due to the total number of votes cast. While I concede that objectivity is a goal and subjectivity plays a role, I wish it were as simple as just revising "the results to achieve advertising or other subjective aims." It would make my job a lot easier and certainly more fun and profitable. Regarding the "Best Mixologist" category: We have published an "Oops" in this issue addressing that clerical error. Péché did indeed win again, and Mssrs. Manning and Wilsford did indeed receive votes. However, I did not receive confirmation in my attempts at fact checking. I am solely responsible for that error. I intended to replace their names with "everyone at," as the bar received numerous votes under a variety of names. I did not follow through with that final step and sorely regret and apologize for my mistake.]

Dear Editor,
    Got a beef with your cable company? Where do you go? Nowhere – except the courts, thanks to the bipartisan Texas legislators’ "screw you consumers bill" Senate Bill 5 79th (2) that stripped consumers of the right to file a complaint.
    The Texas Legislature gave Texas regulators rights to grant cable companies – like Time Warner – to operate (forever and ever) and stripped consumers (forever and ever) of the right to file complaints against the same cable companies.
    As an Austinite, I cannot file a complaint against Time Warner, thanks to legislation my Representative, Mark Strama, voted for.
    Texas regulators later kicked consumers in the gut with a tax-paid website and tax-paid employees telling consumers and legislators we could file cable complaints at the Federal Communications Commission. That’s BS – cable consumers can’t have billing/service complaints processed at the FCC. These Texas regulators are supposed to provide consumers and legislators accurate info. Instead, your tax-paid employees proudly provided for years inaccurate, misleading, and (golly!) not true info to consumers and legislators.
    Shout out to your state legislator: You want a formal process to file a complaint against your cable company in Texas if your cable company is given the right to operate by the Public Utility Commission. Otherwise, lay back and enjoy the bipartisan "screw you consumers" policy state Democratic and Republican legislators voted for.
    Shout out to your state legislator: Texas regulators have been caught red-handed in misleading us. If they mislead consumers and legislators about cable issues, what in the world will they do about electric issues in the next legislative session?

Dear Editor,
    Re: "Is Your Hair on Fire? It's Campaign Time.," [News, May 18]: Charlie Baird has put out a mailer quoting this statement, "[APD Officers] Wagner and Rodriguez ran up to the car with their guns drawn." That was posted in the Chronicle as the truth in the Byron Carter case. None of it is the truth. As indicated in the press more than once, the shots were fired when the officer saw his partner go down and he thought he was under the car and being dragged. He was hit by the car as the car sped out of the parking place. There was a grand jury of 12 people that heard more than 40 hours of testimony and deliberated before considering four counts and giving a no bill on all four counts. This is an affront to the 12 people on the grand jury, their integrity, and their intelligence on assessing the facts that were presented – complete with video, pictures, and written and spoken testimony. This was never about race, and the grand jury was a minority grand jury. The District Attorney's Office never tells the grand jury what to do. A grand jury can ask any question and request any evidence or explanation they want. They do not report to the D.A.'s office.
    Testimony by experts from around the country stated that police procedures were followed, and in the press conference releasing the verdict the D.A. released some of the information on the case including detailed photos – including the picture of the driver's seat that was laid back so that the passenger was the one that was hit – and pictures with ballistic reports.

Hello Chronicle,
    Just read your article about the brothers Yassine and the demise of their blow-fueled disco empire [“The Yassine Sixth Street Noir,” News, May 18]. While money laundering, coke, and international terrorism are certainly nefarious activities, I believe a far greater evil was unleashed upon our fair city by these characters. They built a shark tank into a dance floor at a place called Qua. One more time: They built a shark tank into a dance floor at a place called Qua. How do you even begin to prosecute such an unspeakable and heinous act?

Dear Editor,
    If we can tunnel underneath the streets of Austin and through the solid limestone bedrock to build a huge and cavernous 26-foot diameter tunnel for Waller Creek, why can't we build subways in Austin? Yes, I know the cost would be astronomical – but it wouldn't be cutting through anyone's backyard or neighborhood (like the light rail), and it would allow for the straightest path possible and thus the quickest method for getting from point A to point B. In England, they tunneled under the English Channel – all the way to France – through tons of rock with one of those futuristic-looking, rock crushing, tunneling devices. So why can't we have subways in Austin?

Dear Editor,
    I would like to make two points in response to Michael King’s [News] article “Is Your Hair on Fire? It’s Campaign Time,” May 18.
    First, regarding the two mail pieces from my campaign, I maintain that both are accurate; Chronicle readers can judge for themselves, as each mailer contains attribution for the sources relied upon for the information contained in the mailers.
    Second, Mr. King’s article initially stated that our mailer “plunks a battered black cowboy hat on Lehmberg’s head.” I am glad to see that error has been corrected in the Web version of the article. The photo used in the mailer was found on Lehmberg’s Facebook page; it was not created by my campaign. I encourage Mr. King to be more careful in the future.

Dear Editor,
    Re: “With a Grain of Salt” ["Postmarks," May 4]: Seems to me the Chronicle's coverage of Ron Paul is very fair. As soon as Paulies acknowledge their candidate's bullshit positions on civil rights, church and state separation, etc., maybe the Chronicle would be willing to acknowledge their bullshit candidate.

Dear Editor,
    On Saturday, May 11, our sweet friend Traci Lamar Hancock passed away ["Into the Mystic," Earache! Music blog, May 14]. Traci told me recently that she thought of the process as “just transitioning.” Charlene Hancock said that Traci’s last moments were “peaceful and sweet.”
    I can’t even begin to describe how much we will all miss her.
    The Hancock family needs us now to continue our support. Please give. The www.traciforgrace.com site is still up and running.
    David and Suzanne Armistead and I wish to thank everyone for their love and generous support in the past, and especially now.