UPDATE!!!!

Current mood: excited

OK, so first to update on my letter to the editor, it was published in the Record-Courier today. Yesterday I got an e-mail from Roger Di Paulo basically thanking me for the support and explaining why he writes historical columns. Here is the text of that e-mail for those interested:

Mr. Ridinger:

Your letter, with the correction you noted, will appear in
Thursday's R-C.

Thanks for your support. I walked a very fine line when
writing this column (especially given the fact that
descendants of some of the members of the lynch mob are
very much alive and among my readership) and did my best to
put the incident into an historical perspective. I have no
problem when my work is criticized, but I thought the
letter writer's remark casting asperions on Joseph Smith's
revelations was especially offensive.

I learn something every time I write a history piece, and
in this case, I think what I most appreciated is that many
people are not fully aware of the importance of Portage
County, and especially the Johnson Farm site, to the
history of this worldwide religion. I hope that I helped to
"educate" people a bit with what I wrote.

Again, thanks for writing.

Roger Di Paolo

It was cool to get that note. I also heard from my sister Becky that a co-worker of hers told her that she (the co-worker) thought my response was very professional. ANYWAY, today I also took my last final EVER at BYU-Idaho and then just completed my last assignment for one of my classes that I'd been putting off. SO, my semester is OVER!!! For now I'm packing up my room and am planning on leaving tomorrow morning for Utah before beginning my trip home Saturday morning. I am SO EXCITED to be coming home and to be FREE of the semester and DONE with Rexburg. YEAH!!! And in case you're wondering, all of my finals went GREAT! I even surprised myself!

Here's what my letter looked like in the paper...it was the only letter published today.