The following letter to the editor by Charlotte County DEC member David Finster was published in the Charlotte Sun on Friday, July 13th.
Editor:
The letter from July 6 submitted by Thomas W. Smith of North Port was plagiarized from an online blog published by Daniel Greenfield, who is “a New York writer focusing on radical Islam,” according to his bio.
You receive many submissions and I accept that it’s difficult to verify each one. When blatant plagiarism is discovered, your readers deserve to know they are reading professional political articles and not the opinions of their neighbors. I hope you will post a retraction.
I believe a small minority of extremists cheer when reading such reactionary, fearful and inciting rhetoric. However, this does not represent Charlotte County. While some in the media claim a pending civil war and others call for civility, you decide what your paper stands for and publishes.
David Finster
Punta Gorda
