TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: I read your articles in "Static," your radio-obsessed music quarterly [edited by Jeff DeRoche, June 7], and was more than irritated to find you had completely left out KGRG 89.9 FM. It's pretty daft of a local paper to completely overlook a local radio station that has been around since 1974; a radio station that has played a huge role in breaking major local acts.

We play everything from Guided by Voices to KMFDM, from Juno to NOFX, from Bouncing Souls to Creeper Lagoon, from the Movie Life to Carrie Akre, from the Pinehurst Kids to Unwound, and tons of other music people don't know about but should. We don't play the overdone, compressed, neatly packaged bullshit you hear on commercial radio, and we don't have the unprofessional sound of a free-format college station.

Needless to say I was sorely disappointed when I looked over the radio pullout (except for the article about Willa Catheter: She sounds like one fucking rad lady who knows what's up!).

Gracie Wilson, KGRG Program Director

HEY GANG: Your issue about radio was excellent. It brought many fond memories of my adolescence in the Chicago suburbs. My favorite station was WIVS, which broadcast out of tiny Crystal Lake, IL. It featured an album-rock format with no canned commercials. I think radio is a cooler medium than TV. Alas, it too is threatened by commercialism.

Larry Kaye, via e-mail

EDITOR: WOW! I can't believe that after all the oppressive and arrogant articles in The Stranger regarding animals, you finally decided to show a little compassion. I give great props to Tamara Paris for spreading some truth with her story "Twilight at the Corral Cafe" [June 7]. The one thing that struck me is that the auction house in Marysville she visited was a smaller "family" affair. Jesus, I can hardly imagine the horror she would have faced at a corporate (factory) farm or auction house! Kudos to her for having the guts to witness the conditions and mutilations, and to then publish her findings. Tamara's firsthand account just makes me realize that even small "family" operations are inherently cruel, and reaffirms my conviction as a longtime vegan.

Dave Bemel, Seattle

HEY: Just wanted to let you know that I'm glad you ran Tamara Paris' feature about the livestock auction. People should know what they support when they buy flesh or other "products" that come from living, breathing, feeling critters.

Next, try a factory farm. They are vastly worse than anything you described at the auction, yet people send them money every day when they buy animal products, having no idea what it is that they really pay for.

Melissa, via e-mail

DEAR EDITOR: Tamara Paris gave a moving account of a livestock auction house. It was hard to read about the horrors of de-horning a cow, of the treatment of dead and dying animals--some of them newborns--and of the conditions of the animals in general. Yet Paris' story kept me reading.

Paris' emotions were a stark contrast to others in the story, who all seemed indifferent to the suffering around them. Maybe more of us should see firsthand how "food" animals are treated.

Jean Coburn, Issaquah

EDITORS: I came across "Twilight at the Corral Cafe," and was genuinely moved by the creative and honest candor in which the animal-farming industry was portrayed. The shocking details really invoked a sense of compassion.

I commend The Stranger and Tamara Paris for having the courage to write about such compelling issues rather than the usual fluff we've all come to expect from other papers. Please encourage your writers to continue covering acts of transgression and other animal-suffrage issues, as they are desperately in need of a voice. As you might know, the story has commanded extreme value and purpose beyond serving as mere "entertainment" in exposing a reality far more shocking than anyone could imagine.

Chanel Christopher, via e-mail

EDITORS: I lived in Wenatchee during the reign of horror now known as the "Wenatchee Sex Ring" fiasco, and watched with amazement at the amount of terror an out-of-control justice system can do to a community ["Go to Tape," Phil Campbell, June 7]. Your story was right on in terms of how videotaping of child witnesses can be used effectively.

My son was assaulted. During the subsequent investigation, I demanded that my son's interview by the police be videotaped. The interview was videotaped, and thus prevented my son from having to do multiple interviews with multiple investigators.

The Wenatchee Sex Ring investigations were full of shit, basically. There were NO mass orgies involving children and adults, as was advertised by The Wenatchee World and local KPQ radio.

The law-and-justice community in Wenatchee is run by a group of power-hungry and "justice be damned" zealots.

People from Eastern Washington are, indeed, from an incestuous planet.

Stephen Hughes, Seattle

EDITORS: I know your publication is always looking for something new to target with a "humorous" approach, but really, is nothing or no one immune from your sarcasm and disrespect?

I'm referring to your article called "That's Yo Mama by the Dalai Lama" [June 7], which was complete with rude jokes. I hold His Holiness the Dalai Lama in the highest esteem and consider him an authentic, highly evolved, devoutly spiritual human being. To even mention his name in context of an article such as the one you published shows an ignorance that reflects more on your own state of mind than on that of His Holiness.

Believe me, I DO have a sense of humor that is raucous and irreverent at appropriate times. I read The Stranger and am not a righteous stick-in-the-mud. However, treating H.H. the Dalai Lama as the butt of a cheap pun merely demonstrates your lack of sophistication, and demeans all parties involved.

Jennifer LaRock Shontz, Red Shoe Design

DEAR STRANGER: In a so-called "new column" in The Stranger, you have made a rude joke on His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The Tibetan and Buddhist followers all over the world consider him as god king, and others regard him as a respectable leader. We really hope that you will not make fun of him, and understand the sentiments of the people who believe in him.

Tenzin, via e-mail

EDITORS: What's this? Last week's Stranger included some usable and non-sarcastic content: the BBQ article and hotel-bar reviews ["Meat and Greet," Phil Campbell, June 14; "Come Here Often?," edited by Dan Savage, June 14]. What, no "Best of Enumclaw" or Oh Boy! Oberto pepperoni factory articles? Readers are starved for and deserve some real content from The Stranger. Well-written, well-researched, comprehensive food-culture articles are not published often enough in what is too often a wacky, irreverent, and generally useless weekly.

Keep it coming! Thanks to the work of The Stranger staff, I now know where to take my one-night stand from out of town for good BBQ before boffing at her downtown hotel.

S. Howard, via e-mail

DEPT. OF CORRECTIONS: Last week, we implied that the mayor's office culled language for its city ordinance regulating water rates from the web page advocating I-63 ["Like, Water for Salmon," Grant Cogswell, June 14]. Further reporting indicates that the mayor's office did not steal any language from I-63's web page.

Also, we got the wrong Republican. We incorrectly reported that Republican donor and current Paccar CEO Mark Pigott spoke at the recent Corporate Council for the Arts luncheon ["Republicans for Sidran," Josh Feit, May 24]. It was actually Pigott's immediate predecessor and father, Charles M. Pigott (Paccar CEO from 1967-1997 and currently chairman emeritus), who spoke. It turns out that Charles Pigott is an even bigger Republican spender than Mark. Charles donated $22,750 to Republicans during the 2000 election. We regret our errors.