Taking King to Task

Dear Mr. Black,
    It looks like Mr. King is throwing the Chronicle behind Mr. Montenegro. He downplays the influence your paper has on ignorant parents with angry kids that sometimes results in fatal events. He's also endorsing elitism, overlooks inflation, poverty, and crime; all consequences of pampering outsiders in the local school districts (and beyond). You probably have noticed the change of stance at the Statesman on these issues, because some are affecting the middle class already. I'd like you to consider firing this individual who rejects reasoning and pretends East Austin does not exist.

   [News Editor Michael King replies: In fact, I didn't write the most recent Chronicle response concerning Hector Montenegro [“Postmarks,” Aug. 12] – the Ysleta school superintendent who for some reason is the latest obsession of Paul Aviña's – but it is characteristic of Aviña simultaneously to abjure "elitism" and try to get somebody he doesn't know fired. For the record, while we have no official position on hiring matters in South Texas school districts, we do try to correct factual errors where they occur, even in "Postmarks." In general, we also try to distinguish between "reasoning" and character assassination, even when our correspondents choose not to do so.]