Cantankerous Quentin

An ex-State Senator is up in arms about a letter to the editor

Comments (0) Wednesday, Dec 22 1999

When SF Weeklyreceived the following letter, we felt inclined to print it, given that it says nice things about us, and bad things about a small, northeastern state of little consequence. So on Nov. 24, we published it in our letters column, under the headline "Withering in New Hampshire":

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I'm a San Franciscan, currently exiled in Hanover, N.H., for graduate school. I thought I was going to lose my mind till I rememberedSF Weekly is online. My gratitude is enormous. This is a strange land, here in New Hampshire. Extreme Christians abound. Folks don't hire the pierced here, and the only date I've had was with a ... REPUBLICAN!

Thank God that I can get a hit of S.F. once a week.

Siobhan O'Connor

Hanover, N.H.

Little did Ms. O'Connor know that the only thing scarier than a New Hampshire Republican is a San Francisco Independent. After her letter appeared, Ms. O'Connor was startled to receive a hand-scrawled response, which she shared with SF Weeklyand we reprint below.

"I can only assume that I, an insignificant graduate student at his alma mater, aroused his ire by expressing my alienation in the land of silk and money," Ms. O'Connor wrote to us. "I understand the reactionary need to protect the ever-frail bastions of conservative power and education; however, I didn't even mention his alma mater in my first letter.

"Judge Kopp's suggestion that I 'abandon Dartmouth' seems slightly Wicked Witch of the Westish to me. It also seems slightly thuggish coming from a former state Senator on his letterhead. Given the fact that he makes no direct reference to the 'statements' which 'reflect poor character,' his correspondence to me also seems to be (I must be indelicate here) chickenshit."

When contacted by SF Weekly, Kopp declined to discuss the letter.

Make your boss squirmand seethe! Fax his most annoying, dictatorial, and idiotic memorandums to Randomemo: 777-1839. Or mail to Randomemo, c/oSF Weekly, 185 Berry, Suite 3800, San Francisco, CA 94107.