MEA CULPA! CONTRARY TO my assertion (The Mail, 11/18), Ron Jeremy did not win a 1994 Adult Video News Award for Best Non-Sexual Performance in a Gay Video. The award went to Gino Colbert. It seems I misinterpreted Jeremy’s remarks during the taped portions of the award show and, assuming my letters to Washington City Paper would be discarded, did not check the published listing of the winners. Boy, have I learned my lesson!‘s part without providing citations. Any publication which so readily admits its errors, admits to its own instances of that for which it criticizes others (as in the Washington Post‘s use of the term “poster child”), and is friendly toward adult entertainment (as in your July 2, 1993, Bob Jones cover story, your advertising policy, and printing my letters) deserves better.

Like those candidates who make allegations of election improprieties while refusing to concede defeat, the burden of proof lies with me. With this in mind, I visited the Washingtoniana division of the Martin Luther King Memorial Library with the intention of either finding the geographical errors and proving you wrong or not finding them and conceding defeat. Well, I concede! I couldn’t find the errors. Heck, I couldn’t even find any back issues of City Paper, or facsimiles thereof. Even finding an unoccupied microfilm reader would have proved an obstacle, as would locating an operational, unoccupied catalog terminal.

For the record, however, the 1992 cover story was, indeed, the piece to which I referred regarding MLK “Boulevard.” Direct quotes I don’t dispute. I think I recall a short piece on Advisory Neighborhood Commissions which said something along the lines of, “There’s an ANC for Bolling Air Force Base, even though it’s several miles outside the city.” Maybe I was hallucinating.

I did not make myself clear regarding 1 Judiciary Square NW. This was not an error on your part, but I’m sure City Paper has run some commentary to the effect that there is no such address. Yes, the mayor christened her headquarters “1 Judiciary Square,” and the Post and others refer to the building by that name. However, I can assure you that as of 2:50 p.m., Nov. 19, there was no such designation on said structure. Its main entrance is correctly marked “441,” as in 441 4th St. NW. (Even Bell Atlantic directories list it as “One Judiciary Square-441 4th St. NW.”) Nor are there street signs designating a “Judiciary Square.” The only signs I can find indicating the existence of Judiciary Square are at the entrances to the Metro station which bears that name. (This does not compare to the sins of the Warner Theater, which is inscribed “1299 Pennsylvania,” even though its main entrance lies well into the 500 block of 13th Street NW, right next to 555 13th St. NW.) So, again, I was referring to criticism of Mayor Kelly, not criticizing City Paper, and what’s the point of criticizing her at this point anyway? I hope Marion Barry sells the place and moves the mayor’s office back to 1350 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. You call it the “Wilson/District Building.” The Post calls it the “John Wilson Building.” Me, I’m keeping my mouth shut for now.

Best regards to all at City Paper. (And, you see, I did not even mention Loose Lips’ callous and derogatory dismissal of carriage horses and supporters of animals’ rights, which galls me to this day. Oops. Well, at least I put my name on what I write.)

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