lettersJune 5, 19__
Mr. John Sellalot
101 Washburn Avenue
Seattle, Washington
Dear John:
The GREAT NORTHWEST GOLD RUSH promotion is a golden opportunity for you to win a bonanza of prizes. This strike it rich sales promotion is jointly sponsored by Automatic Sprinkler and Mechanical Agents, and will run from June 15 through November 15. It's open to all contractor customers of Mechanical Agents in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington.
To qualify for the gold, just purchase a minimum of $5,000 worth of Automatic Sprinkler products during the promotion period.
One prize will be awarded to each winner at the end of the promotion from one of three product purchase levels:
First Prize Group - $15,000 and up.
Second Prize Group - $10,000 and up.
Third Prize Group - $5,000 and up.
The selection of prizes you can win are shown in the three prize brochures,enclosed. Winners will be announced after November 15 and we'll give all prize winners a chance to make their selection then. And during the run of the promotion, we'll periodically bring you up to date on your standing.
Plan to strike is rich during the gold rush days ahead.
Good prospecting!
Sincerely,
This letter to the editor was printed in The Spokesman-Review and won the paper's Gold Pen Award.
22 December 94
The Spokesman-Review
West 999 Riverside
Spokane, Washington 99201
Attn: Letters Editor
Dear Editor:
Winston Churchill claimed that Americans could be counted on to do the right thing after exhausting all the alternatives. In the past half century, lured by the deceptive siren song of Progress, we've used up most of our options.
The world once knew us as problem-solving pioneers. Today, we're viewed as whining has-beens who deny the true dangers of global warming, forest destruction, ozone depletion, pollution, cropland loss, corporate outlaws, population growth, deficit spending, and social dislocations. Deluded by talk radio babblers and political demagogues, we find convenient scapegoats, take easy routes, and pretend the party can last forever.
We managed to ruin our big cities, junk our small towns, and litter our countryside with crap and crud. In a frenzy of commercialism, we demolished the public realm and banished the spirit of community. The American landscape has become a scarred place inhabited by scared and scary people.
Now we're faced with rebuilding a destructive economy of mindless expansion with one that respects environmental limits and human proportions. To do that, we'll have to cure our perverse fetish for individualism and bring back public life. We'll have to rediscover the concept of public good. We'll even have to tell some people what they can and can't do with their land.
We'll have to reform our political system, downscale our institutions, and force multinational corporate renegades to heel. We'll have to produce less garbage, pollute less, consume less. We'll have to just say no to tickytacky suburban sprawl, meandering mazes of blacktop, and junk-filled megamalls. We'll have to learn how to live locally and build cohesive communities where people actually work and play and live.
If we can do these things, and ignore mean-spirited, money-driven pseudo leaders who just don't get it, maybe we can recreate a nation dedicated to building human environments where we can rekindle and nurture our lost spirit of community.
Sincerely,
