LETTERS

Dear Rip & Marsha,

What a shame! On Thursday, Dec. 5th, we had a chance to come together again as a community and express our feelings to the City Administration regarding the crime situation in the French Quarter. Both large and small business and many individuals were notified of the march on City Hall and the Candlelight Vigil in Jackson Square that evening to remember not only those from the Louisiana Pizza Kitchen, but all victims of crime in the Quarter. In addition, many business were requested to close from 3:30pm to 8pm to express our solidarity with this march and vigil.

This was spearheaded by the gay business leaders of our community and most bars, delis, restaurants and other gay establishments went along with the request. A few hours missing from the cash register in the long term is not nearly as important as a life being lost. But then there were others who chose to ignore the request and were driven by the almighty dollar to stay open and conduct business as usual. Small business like the Quarter Launderette, Quarter Master Deli, St. Ann's Deli, Verti Marte, the Frame Shop, Bourbon Cuts, Alternatives, Double Play, Corner Pocket and others all chose to honor our fellow Quarterites.

Larger business like Bourbon Pub, Oz, Cafe Lafitte, Petunias, Good Friends and even Johnny Whites chose to participate. So why not total participation? Is not the issue of crime, dangerous streets, adequate protection for all and the general devastation of the French Quarter not enough to urge someone to action.

One store owner of a major grocery store [2 in the Quarter in fact] was heard to say that he "couldn't afford to close". Maybe the gay community will remember your lack of caring about your fellow Quarterites and show you that we have long memories. The question really is...can you NOT afford to close? And the gay bar on St. Louis that decided to stay open...where is your loyalty to the community? For all the business, both gay and straight, that chose to ignore the plight of the Quarter...What a shame!

Steve Mettner

Dear Rip and Marty:

Once again, we are writing to say thank you. On behalf of Co-Chairs Christopher Daigle and Jan Harrell, and the Board of Directors of the Louisiana Lesbian and Gay Political Action Caucus, thank you both for the help and support you gave us during the recent campaigns. Our community’s support, and your unselfish help in securing that support, certainly contributed to President Clinton’s wide margin of victory in Louisiana. But our greatest victory was the election of Mary Landrieu to the United States Senate. Clearly, the tremendous gay and lesbian support and work for her campaign provided the margin of difference, and you played a major role in that effort.

We look forward to working with you in the future.

Sincerely, Randal M. Beach, Secretary

To: info@ambushpublishing.com

Subject: great web site

Just had to drop a note to you guys about how useful your site was in planning my trip to New Orleans for Halloween. Had a great time. I'm still recovering.

One suggestion would be to have Oz post their DJ's playlist every once in a while. The music at Oz was great all week long and I've already picked up some of the music they played. I'd certainly browse the site often if there were occasional updates (and we all know how quickly hot new music becomes yesterday's overplayed mainstream straight stuff. ugh!)

Keep up the great work...

Terry