Dear George,

I assume you saw the DP editorial today -- who would dare disagree with the local newspaper!

Seriously, unless council wanted to oversee every expenditure that the city makes in its general fund, the purchase of the tree (even given its last-minute status) should have remained an internal expenditure and the tempest-in-a-teapot would never have occurred.

I'm sure there are many routine (and special) expenditures that some citizens would object to if they were made public, and there are always other ways to spend any monies that some citizens would prefer; unless someone can show me a clear, persistent pattern of frivolous spending by city staff, I'm going to let this one slide -- city staff explanations were enough for me!

Sue Lewis (electronic mail, December 7, 2000).