before we march w/ pitchforks and flaming torches...

["O'Neal, Kevin W." <Kevin.ONeal@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

	>From: Ken in MD  
	>Subject: before we march w/ pitchforks and flaming torches... 
>>E-mail to IWF, cc: to media.
>>I'm there.
>
>Let's all take a deep breath before we deluging IWF
>and the media with emails

Too late, and let's not.
It shows them the amount of support out there.

>, especially hostile ones. 

Sending a hostile E-mail, or in any other format, would be counter
productive and down right stupid.
Why piss someone off that you're trying to get help from?

I sent a very polite and professional E-mail to the IWF asking what actions
they took after being alerted by a person of notoriety such as Mr.
Townshend.
I cc'd the press, to let the IWF know they are watching, and to plant the
question in their head as well.

>To play devil's advocate, the fact that Pete e-mailed
>them last fall doesn't prove anything about his
>innocence 

It doesn't.  Myself, I'm still struggling with the time line.  This could
*still* be seen as an attempt to cover....depending on the time line.

>- and people with some distance from this
>case will not see it exonerating him.

See your comment below...

>Granted, it's a
>positive development, 

A development that should be shared.

>but I would urge some caution
>here.   If you must write, do so with tact and
>politeness.

This list is not the only one generating letters.   

>I'm going to wait for additional
>positive developments, then this can take its place
>with them in a general defense.
 
I've ensured, now, that all media are up to speed.

>Also, 
>Pete did not ask for our help in getting a response
>from IWF, did he?

That sounds like a rhetorical question.

Look, Ken, you can conduct yourself in this situation the way you see fit.
Do what you wish and when.  
No one is preventing you from doing that.
It's a free country.

As such, I'm quite curious as to what the IWF *did* once contacted by a
famous person such as Pete?
*I'm* curious.  *I* want to know.  That is *my* right in this free country.
Thus, *I* wrote them.
I did/do this on my own.  Not as a representative of this list, or of Pete,
or of The Who, or some imaginary Who Fan Club.
Only as a person who is pissed about the way Pete has been treated, and
wants an explanation.

>I believe he's put his lawyers to that task.

And that is Pete's prerogative.
Please note, that Pete didn't tell us to *not* write letters if we so
wished.

Kevin in VT