The Virginian-Pilot
                            THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT  
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Saturday, January 27, 1996             TAG: 9601260001
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A10  EDITION: FINAL 
                                             LENGTH: Short :   23 lines

A NOTE TO READERS

Letters, faxes and e-mail sharply criticizing WTKR-TV Channel 3's dismissal of meteorologist Duane Harding continue to pour in to the editorial department. We've never before seen anything like it. Only a few letters lately received are unsupportive of Dr. Duane.

We will be returning the letters column to other matters. At this writing, we have 68 pro-Duane letters in hand ranging from readers on the Eastern Shore to the Outer Banks and the Oceanfront to Franklin. Many public issues have stimulated waves of letters from Virginian-Pilot readers over the years. We receive more than 800 letters a month. But the stream of letters to the editor expressing indignation and anger over the firing of meteorologist Duane Harding is, if memory serves, unprecedented in its width, depth and strength. by CNB