The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1946-03-01
AN APOLOGY

Editor by Mr.. Garland L. Bal
lard complaining of the treatment
received at the hands of Mr.. Ebcr-
hardt. Fred o. Eberhardt has
written the publisher of The
Key West Citizen, pointing odt
inaccuracies in the mentioned
communication written by Mr..
Ballard to the editor.
Mr.. Eberhardt's letter to tie
publisher, under date of Febru-
fary 81, 1916, stating the facts of
the matter discussed in Mr.. Bal
lard's communication, is as fol-
lows:
"Mr. L. P. Artman,
Owner and Publisher Of
The Key West Citizen
Key West, Florida
Dear Mr.. Artman:
I'm the issue of The Key West
Citizen under date of February
20, 1916, there was published in
Peoples Forum" letter bear
ing the heading, From An Irate
Veteran. This letter was signed
by one Garland L. Ballard. Mr..
Ballard undertook to state certain
matters of fact in his letter. I am
sure that you will grant space in
your valuable paper, so that the
facts in this particular case, as
disclosed from official records,
may be brought to your attention
and to the attention of the public.
First, MIR. Ballard, the author
of this letter, was NOT, arrested
by me at any time, or by any
person under my order. The rec
ords, of Monroe County, Florida,
will bear this out. On February
10, 1916, / found Mr.. Billiards. car
on the streets of the City of Key
West, in front of the USO Se,v-
ice Club at jackson Square, bear
ing an expired 1915 Kansas
license tag. thereupon, on that
date, issued to Mr.. Ballard
courtesy citation requiring him to
install proper license on the
automobile as his Kansas license
had then expired. stated in the
citation mentioned that January
!, 1916, was the last date upon
which his license was valid, or
could be used.
'The above citation mentioned
was ignored by Mr.. Ballard. On
February IA, 1916, I again founo
this motor vehicle being driv en-
on the streets of Key West al,
l issued on that date citation
to appear before the, Motor We
hicle Inspector at my office in
the Monroe County Court House
at once to explain why he was
continuing to operate the auto
mobile on an expired license. On
this occasion l asked MIR. Ballard,
for his operators permit and he
produced an operators permit
issued by the State of Florida to
Garland L. Ballard, bearing No.
C-471344. The operators license
listed him as a civilian. Pursuant
to the notice, Mr.. Ballard called
at my office and said, 81 have
ordered my license from nv
home State" I asked Mr.. Ballard
to furnish me some evidence that
he had ordered a license from
his home State and in that event
l would not compel him to buy
a license from Florida. This he
did not or could not do and he
then stated, Il have sixty days
in which to obtain a license ard
l will be in Kansas before tina.
time and will buy my license
when I get there. I thereupon
proceeded to check the motor
vehicle laws of the State of Kan
sas and found that the firal
operation date on Kansas license
plates is January 1st and that an
application for renewal can be
accepted without penalty oniJ
prior to February LIST. thereup m
compelled Mr.. Ballard to install
! proper license, which in this case
was Florida license plate and
which he did. Mr.. Ballard was
not arrested and there were nc
penalties attached to his failure
to have proper plates.
''In the masthead under your
peoples Forum, you state that
'the editor reserves the right to
delete any items, which are con-
sidered libelous or unwarranted".
l am curious as to why you did
not exercise such prerogative in
the case of Mr.. Billiards. letter. 1t
does not seem to me to be good
editorial practice to permit the
publication of a letter such as
MIR. Billiards. without first check
ing upon the facts. A few min
utes' investigation would have
proved that there was no founda-
ton for Mr.. Billiards. charges.
am an official of the State of
Florida and such a venomous and
Scurrilous charge against an Off
cial is not only an attack upon
the person, but upon the office,
which he represents as we'll. In
the present circumstances, I be-
lieve that l am entitled not only
to the publication of this letter,