TODAY'S LETTERS: Van Gogh's death, Paul Byrd's Human Growth, and Pesticides

By: E&P Staff Readers wrote in today about the San Francisco Chronicle, Van Gogh.and pesticides.



'Chron' Says Baseball Pitcher Ordered HGH
The timing on the release of this story is suspect, at best. On the eve of the 7th game of the play off series between the Red Sox and the Indians?

According to the "story" Mr. Byrd broke no laws, and broke no baseball rules.

That it was released in the San Francisco Chronicle, which somehow seems to find many "sources" they can't name for their baseball news -- speaks volumns about the intent.

This was not a "story." Nothing to see here folks, move on along.

That this "story" is what passes for journalism in 2007 is sad.

E.R. White
Houston



Van Gogh on the Train
As Dominique-Charles Janssens? scientific advisor, I would like to react to your recent article on his ?Van Gogh?s Dream? project. As I noticed that you are indeed a true Van Gogh lover, I would like to share some views with you; not to correct you, but to complement the information you have on both the project and Van Gogh?s life and work. I hope you will be so kind to forgive me for the poor English I?ll use !

I?m convinced that you are absolutely right about the fact that attracting more tourists to Van Gogh last room would ruin the experience. However, Mister Janssens has always made the access to the room relatively difficult (the main gates remain closed at all times, one really has to want to get in to find one?s way), to ensure the tranquillity of the place. This will not change, and that?s why the webcam will allow people to see the room without going there. There are no parking spaces in Auvers to welcome busloads of tourists, and everything will be done to keep the place as quiet as it has always been. The Institute has never accepted more than two group visits a day, only in the morning, and by appointment only.

As for the security measures you fear : they are already there. You walked through them without noticing them. A lot of state-of-the art security devices are already working there, high-tech and discrete.

As for mister Janssens? grin, I must tell you that he is not fond on being photographed, and feels terribly incomfortable as soon as a lens is in his vicinity. He?s discrete and modest, and does not like to be in the news... This, of course, might look like a paradox, as he?s doing his best to let everybody know about his initiative; it seemed to him that it was the only way to have a chance to realize Van Gogh?s dream.

You must know also, as it doesn?t seem to me that you are fully aware of it, that when Mister Janssens bought the inn, it was a ruin, and looked like a run-down 1970 banlieue caf?. Nobody, the French state included, wanted to be responsible for it. Mister Janssens accepted the challenge to restore it, and spent a lot of energy, money and time to make it what you enjoyed : a modest place with a true soul. A nice place where anybody is welcome to enjoy an extraordinary experience. As a Van Gogh scholar, I admit that I thought, before I saw it, that the place would be worthy of a creation by Walt Disney. I was terribly wrong. The job Mister Janssens? did is amazing.

Re: ?Vincent didn?t say anything about showing one $30 million painting in the room where he would die.?

This seems a bit unfair, as the Institut Van Gogh doesn?t fix the price of this priceless painting. Mister Janssens believes that his project would give an exceptional setting to a Van Gogh painting, allowing people who care about Van Gogh to share an extraordinary experience. Personnally, I think his project should be judged with keeping in mind what he already did. He saved the room, and I believe he?ll be able to save the painting.


Wouter van der Veen


Will Pesticide Maker Seal Info Revealed By Calif. Paper?
A clarification: In your story about the Santa Cruz Sentinel and publishing the ingredients to an aerial spray, while the Sentinel, on the advice of legal counsel who had reviewed state and federal trade secrets laws, did temporarily remove the ingredient list from our Web site after five days.

We subsequently, and quickly, published the name of the inert ingredient in follow-up stories and editorials, and then republished the entire list again, based on the judge?s ruling in Los Angeles.

Our firm belief from the beginning is that the public has a right to know what is in a substance that will be sprayed by their government.

Don Miller
Managing Editor
Santa Cruz Sentinel