House, hunting

What's wrong with this envelope?

For a good while, we readers have seen typos cropping up in places once protected by a sacred caste -- proofreaders. They operated with authority and an equally sacred mandate: Catch typos and anything, from incorrect grammar to questionable facts, that would compromise commitment to fairness, accuracy and balance, a.k.a., credibility.

We miss proofreaders, particularly when finding typographical errors in books, of all places. But it isn’t surprising to find typos in books. Once upon a time, encountering a typo in a book would have shocked and dismayed a reader. Typos were shameful proof of lapses in quality and pride. They were horrifying, sort of like the sight of a colleague at work sporting bed hair and reeking of morning breath.

Such thoughts flared anew recently on noticing this envelope in the daily mail. Perhaps the sender, a non-profit organization, had noticed the typo and regretted the error but couldn’t afford to have the envelopes corrected and reprinted. Whatever the reason, the typo disrupted the organization’s sales message. I didn’t open the envelope.

I’ll watch for more instances of typos, and if you come across an example, send it to me. Together, we can form a typo patrol. And if you’re interested in typos, check out shamefultypos.com, a wonderful, if saddening, site.

Emergency needs in Indian Country

The following alert was sent out by the National Congress of American Indians. The American Indian Chamber of Commerce of Texas sent it those of us who are AICCT members. I share it with you and urge you to consider responding:

Aid Requested for Tribal Communities hit by Recent Snowstorms

A succession of blizzards have ravaged several tribal communities across Indian Country and they are in great need of donated goods (e.g., non-perishable food, water, shovels) and financial assistance in order to purchase medical supplies, propane for heating homes, and gasoline for emergency vehicles.

The National Congress of American Indians is asking that you contact tribal personnel directly to find out specific needs and share your resources with them. Please be aware that there may be other tribes in need and if you have additional information, please contact NCAI and we will send out an update. If you have any questions, please contact Ahniwake Rose at NCAI, 202.466.7767 or arose@ncai.org.

**Contributions to a federally recognized tribal government are treated the same as a contribution to a state government under 7871 for purposes of charitable contributions deductibility; as, the contribution will be used exclusively for "public purposes" which in this instance is disaster relief for the ice storm of January 2010.

Navajo Nation, Navajo Nation Department of Emergency Management, c/o 2010 Snowfall Operation PO Box 620 St. Michaels , AZ 86511 · Contact: Navajo Nation, Johnny Johnson, Emergency Operations, Center Incident Commander, (928) 871-7848.  Navajo Nation request that all donations come in the form of gift cards which will be used to purchase all needs for community members and tribal responders from local vendors. They are also requesting 50,000 sandbags.

Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe/2010 Disaster Account, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Chairman’s Office Attn: Ice Storm Emergency Fund, PO Box 590, 2001 Main Street (Tribal Offices), Eagle Butte, SD 57625. Online Donations: https://secure.piryx.com/donate/0oFFsK8c/Cheyenn-River-Sioux-Tribe/  Contact: Cheyenne River, Robin Le Beau, Chairman’s Assistant: (610) 568-2101.  Medical items needed include: glucose strips, first aid kits, children’s aspirin/pain reliever, and cough syrup.

Oglala Sioux Tribe, Oglala Sioux Tribe Attn: Dean Patton, Treasurer P.O. Box 2070 Pine Ridge, S.D. 57770. Contact: Oglala Sioux, Loretta Afraid of Bear, Public Relations, (605) 867-5074, Rosebud Sioux Tribe, Rosebud Sioux Tribe c/o Emergency Preparedness Program, P.O. Box 910 Rosebud, S.D. 57570. Contact: Bill Giroux, Emergency Manager, (605) 747-2559. Items needed include non-perishable goods, heaters, and candles.

Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Chairman Charles Murphy, PO Box D, Fort Yates, ND 58538. Contact: Pete Red Tomahawk, Tribal Emergency Coordinator, (701) 854-8500.