University of Virginia Library

Letters To The Editor

Thanks For Fire Assistance

I trust that you will allow me to
use the columns of your paper to
thank, first, the many students who
volunteered their services Monday
afternoon to clean the top floors of
Cabell Hall after our near disastrous
fire. They came willingly and served
efficiently; had it not been for what
they did, the water damage would
have been far greater.

The classes that were scheduled
for Cabell Hall, so important for
the beginning of our academic year,
might not have been held on
Tuesday had they not worked so
well on Monday.

I wish I could thank each of
them personally, but I assure each
that I remember with gratitude and
affection such spontaneous and
strenuous help as they gave the
University.

Let me also express my
gratitude to the Charlottesville Fire
Department: they confined the fire
to a small part of the attic, and
they responded quickly and in
force to the danger that the fire
posed.

Fighting a fire on ground level is
not easy, but when one must fight
it-six stories above ground, hack a
way through a state roof, and pull
hoses that high, it is a true
challenge of their efficiency. They
met that challenge superbly.

Some students and some faculty
members will be sorely
inconvenienced by the fire. But
they would be much more
inconvenienced if it had not been
for the students who helped, for
the firemen, for our custodial staff,
and for the personnel of Buildings
and Grounds who had restored
electrical service to the building
within a short time, and who gave
so well of their services, the whole
University community is, with me,
sincerely grateful.

I am amazed at Mr. Gartlan's
utter lack of political perception
and journalistic expertise. In the
September 23 edition of the
Cavalier Daily, Mr. Gartlan, whose
byline indicated that, indeed he was
a CD staff writer, wrote two
political articles. The first described
the appearance of George Rawlings
at the University, the second dealt
with the candidacy of Congressman
Al Lowenstein.

In the Rawlings article, Mr.
Gartlan offered an erroneous
scenario of the controversy
surrounding Senator Byrd's
independent candidacy, and the
events at the Republican State
Convention last June. Perhaps Mr.
Gartlan was vacationing at that
time, or perhaps he limits his
political research to the columns of
the Virginia Weekly.

In his second attempt, Mr.
Gartlan wrote a passable column.
He described the nation-wide
movement to help Lowenstein,
praised him for his stands on a vast
plethora of issues, quoted
Lowenstein supporters at length
who further honored the position
held by the Congressman and
vilified his opponents.

Yet the column contained little,
if any, material germane to the
headline above it: how students at
this University could convincingly
campaign in a congressional race in
the 5th District of New York.

This column would have been
well within the editorial standards
of the CD if it had been placed on
the features page, or if it had been
designated as a column of personal
opinion. It did not, however,
conform to the standards of
journalism normally reserved for
news articles.