Trip to the Moon

Tom Hanscom, whom you describe in the June 27 Footnotes column as “a guy who’s handling a tough PR problem at the San Diego Wild Animal Park,” is really going to know what a tough public relations problem is when his colleagues learn of his unfortunate “tongue-in-cheek” remark that “Being an astute and long-practicing liar, I’ve found my natural place in public relations.”

As a veteran of 26 years as a professional public relations counselor and as a past president of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America, I consider his attempt at humor to be ill-advised and insulting to those of us who practice ethically and who don’t lie, or need to lie, to perform our function of relaying information from a client or employer to the public through the media.

Hanscom should go far in our profession--may I suggest, to the moon?

ROGER BECK

Sherman Oaks