George,

Elizabeth Kutchai is so right and the The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression is so wrong.

There is nothing about free speech per se or the 1st Amendment that suggests or recommends anonymity, irresponsibility, or raising graffiti to an unwarranted, noble level.

What's even worse - much worse - is the Center's shallow idea that Free Speech includes erasing or altering what others said. Those are contrary to free speech.

Erasing the words of others is a denial of free speech we term book burning. Altering what others say is the denial of free speech known as censorship. These are the hallmarks of a graffiti wall, not a monument to free speech.

What's going on at the TJ Center that they have gone so wrong? Can you get Center Director Robert M. O'Neil to come here and respond?

Rey Barry (electronic mail, January 21, 2002).