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sorry for adding this to your email burden, but I am quite upset about the ILC article in the Chicago Maroon that Norman's PR engine made you aware of yesterday. Its a student paper, and things got garbled. Below is the letter to the editor that the paper will publish, along with a correction. On campus we refer to this newspaper as the "Chicago Moron", but you could interprete that as sour grapes on my part. - Mark =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Dear Editor, I applaud Usman Ahmed for being alert to the very recent National Research Council report on support for elementary particle physics in the US (Maroon artilce " U of C Site vies for new particle accelerator", 9 May 2006). Unfortunately, in a brief phone interview which I cut short because I was late for a seminar, Mr. Ahmed misunderstood a few of my points. The NRC "EPP2010" panel determined that elementary particle physics is a field of great value, historically furthered by US initiatives, and that the US could well lose its prominence in the field owing to many years of shrinking funding. Contrary to a statement in the article, I do not disagree with the NRC recommendations, namely that the US make it a priority to host the next generation accelerator (ILC) needed by the field. I believe Mr. Ahmed misunderstood a comment I made about the urgency for the US to increase its support for the ILC and become a lead player in the project ... whether it is hosted here or not. Given the ability of this country to invest in large-scale science, and its historical place in the development of the science, I strongly believe the US should take the lead in the truely international ILC project. Indeed, the original concept for the ILC was first developed in this country in the 1980's. I also point out that Fermilab is not formally affiliated with the University and is therefore not a "U of C site" (but the proximity to U of C is certainly of great benefit to the University). - Mark Oreglia Professor of Physics