In response to Mr. Earl Hassett, first of all, it’s Dr. Huse. Second of all, whoever your source is for your information, Mr. Hassett, has done you a grave disservice by giving you entirely erroneous information, which, it would appear, you chose not to verify for yourself.

For one thing, I’ve only been in Tennessee for just over 2 years; the campus feral colonies, including the one that has lived in Holland-McComb until recently, have been in existence for several years longer. Additionally, as most anyone here on campus who knows me would likely testify, I would be the last person to abandon any animal, sterilized or not, anywhere. So your accusation that I am single-handedly responsible for the campus feral cat population because of some unsterilized cats I supposedly released into the Holland-McComb crawl spaces is pure fabrication.

In addition, your accusation that I know nothing about the realities of what has taken place with regard to the sealing of the buildings and the feral cat trapping is likewise grossly inaccurate. In fact, I have been actively involved in attempting to trap the remaining members of the feral colonies in Crisp and Holland-McComb, get them sterilized, and ultimately relocate them to a safe feral colony outside of Weakley County. The fact is, rather, that I am very aware of what has been taken place in this matter over the past several months.

Finally, your accusation and public personal character assassination that I am “ignorant” regarding the importance of pet sterilization is equally incorrect, if not legally libelous. If you’d like outside testimony as to my commitment to pet sterilization, perhaps I could request of U.S. Senators Lamar Alexander and Bill Frist, along with administrative personnel in the Department of Defense, that they send you copies my letters from last fall and winter regarding the employment of trap-sterilize-return of feral colonies living on U.S. military bases around the world. Perhaps they will also enclose copies of the documentation I sent them regarding sterilization as the most cost-effective and permanent, not to mention humane, strategy for control and ultimate eradication of feral colonies. Further, in the two years I’ve lived in Martin, I have personally rescued multiple strays, including one from campus, which have all since been sterilized as are all my pets. So it would seem, Mr. Hassett, that you would have been well served to follow your own advice to me and check the validity of your data before, as you put it, “going on a rampage.”

I try to teach the students in all my writing classes that words have power and that they must be accountable for all the words they put out into the public arena. I am scheduled to teach English 305, Advanced Composition, this Spring; you could register for my course, and I’d be more than happy to assist you in developing strategies for better evaluation of your sources and more effective public writing.

Dr. Heidi Huse English Department