To the editor:

I certainly enjoy reading your newspaper and I almost always read “Here and There” by Ed Townsend, I rarely agree with his opinion but like to read an opposing point of view.

His column on May 10th “Taxes, Inflation are upon us” seemed just a little strange and some of his statements just didn't seem right. I was especially surprised to see his indication that Warren Buffet had a daughter named Jackie Cushman. Warren would be surprised as well since Ms. Cushman is the daughter of Newt Gingrich.

Then searching on some phrases in the opinion piece I discovered an opinion piece published in Newsweek on May 5th by Newt Gingrich. I discovered that most of the Ed Townsend Opinion piece is based on the Newt Gingrich Opinion Piece, in fact large sections are word for word copies of the work of Newt Gingrich.

The Merriam Webster website defines Plagiarism as “to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own: use (another's production) without crediting the source”. This is not an adaptation of another Author's work, it is clear as a bell to me that this opinion piece is plagiarized from Newt Gingrich, he is never credited or even mentioned in the opinion piece. This is stolen work plain and simple.

Only a few weeks after the paper was awarded 10 New York Press Association Awards it is very disheartening to find such dishonesty printed in your paper. Everyone from Fred Stabbert on down should be ashamed that this passed through the editorial review process at the Sullivan County Democrat without proper attribution.

Editor's Note: It has always been the policy of the Sullivan County Democrat that all columnists, editors, writers and contributing writers must attribute any words that are not written by the author themselves. Unfortunately, the “Here and There” column written this past Tuesday was gleaned, in large part, from a Newsweek magazine editorial written by Newt Gingrich. While we go to extraordinary lengths to fact check, edit and proofread all submissions and staff generated copy, the publication of this opinion column without proper attribution was neither intended or deliberate. We apologize that we did not attribute the column to its author, Newt Gingrich, and also that Mr. Townsend misidentified Jackie Cushman as Warren Buffet's daughter when, in fact, she is Newt Gingrich's daughter.