DEAR ABBY'S AT IT AGAIN

[Jerry D Mead]

The following is a letter to the editor of the Reno Gazette-Journal. I'm assuming the same item is running in her syndication everywhere, though every paper writes different headlines. Complain to your paper about the unfairness of the Abby story (and the headline if they did what Reno did. JDM)

Editor:

"Dear Abby" and your headline writer need to do a little research. I refer to "Wine Country's 'dirty little secret' - too many tasters are drunk," and the Abby item below it which imply that wine tasting in Napa Valley is some kind of threat to public safety.

If either of them had bothered to check with the California Highway Patrol which has county by county statistics on dui arrests and alcohol-related accidents, they'd have discovered that not only does Napa County not have higher statistics on average in this regard, but actually lower than many urban and "cow" counties where tasting rooms are not a factor.

An interesting note on the very vocal anti-alcohol advocate, Abigail Van Buren, her family is one of the largest liquor wholesalers in the Midwest.

Jerry D. Mead
POBox 1598
Carson City, NV 89702
(775) 884-2648
E-mail: wine trader@aol.com
Fax: 884-2484