I want to clarify something:  Bob Fowler's wife has not ever tried to get a job with the Oak Ridge School System.

 Over 30 years ago, a single woman, fresh out of university, did put in an application with the Oak Ridge School system along with nearly every other public school system within a hundred mile radius.  That young woman was I, but I was several years away from being Bob Fowler's wife. I was't even dating him.  

Yet, this morning, my husband received an anonymous e-mail  (aren't all brave and forthright people anonymous?) which read, in part, "Bob, ever since your wife couldn't get a job in the OR school system, you've been trying to put it to the school system."

Bob was mystified.  "You've never tried to get a job with the Oak Ridge School System," he said to me.  

"Well, actually, I did, several years ago," I said.  "But I wasn't your wife.  I put in an application with Oak Ridge when I got out of grad school, but that was over 30 years ago.  I applied anywhere and everywhere within a hundred mile radius," I said.  "Thankfully, I was hired by Knox County and never looked back."  

That little tidbit of misinformation about Bob Fowler's wife was actually the nicest thing the anonymous letter writer had to say.  The rest of the letter was vile, filled with evil gossip about the mother of a little girl who was run over and killed by an Oak Ridge School Bus a few years back.

The mother of that deceased child is currently running for a seat on the Oak Ridge School Board.  Obviously, the letter writer 1)  feels threatened by that woman's candidacy and 2) probably has or knows someone with access to Oak Ridge School records going back many, many years.  

Reading the letter, I felt simultaneous revulsion and pity.  The letter writer strikes me as being both repulsive and pathetic.

Like all letters, the letter is the mirror of its author and it's not a pretty picture.  It is the portrait of an evil, secretive, unhappy and cowardly soul, for only cowards send anonymous letters.    

As I've opined before, the internet is a glass house.  People tend to forget that.  But it would be well to remember that there is no such thing as an anonymous e-mail.   Every e-mail address is traceable.  It takes a little doing sometimes, but it's do-able.  I found that out this morning.  

 

Be Well and Good Luck,

Martha Maria