It's likely a joke, but it sure stands out. Could also be transcription error. The letter itself contains a typo ("if you will privide") which is fixed in the transcription. (It should have been transcribed as is with "[sic]" added to note the original typo.) Too bad there's not an image of the reply.
BTW, the letter was shared to reddit 7 years ago and a redditor replied that it was his uncle Andy:
Also curious that the letter was from May, before the start of the 1984 hurricane season. Per Wikipedia, 1984 did go on to have the highest activity since 1971, while 1983 the lowest since 1930. But 1983 caused more damage with Hurricane Alicia crossing Texas.
The letter looks like pretty typical republican playbook:
It implausibly overestimates the scope of problems, then claims that the private sector / volunteer organizations have more capabilities / funding than the federal government.
I’m hoping it was self-parody and not just a canned form letter response.
js2|1 year ago
BTW, the letter was shared to reddit 7 years ago and a redditor replied that it was his uncle Andy:
https://old.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/5a95b8/til_i...
A photo of Andy:
https://imgur.com/gallery/tsWkg
The story has been circulating the Internet at least since 2004:
https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2004/spring/c...
OJFord|1 year ago
What kind of amazing self-parody is 'Irmo man wrote letter'! That's brilliant
Thorrez|1 year ago
knute|1 year ago
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tornado_events_by_year
re|1 year ago
The Texas drought reference does appear to be accurate. https://www.nytimes.com/1984/10/16/us/crushing-drought-in-te...
tasuki|1 year ago
Detrytus|1 year ago
hedora|1 year ago
It implausibly overestimates the scope of problems, then claims that the private sector / volunteer organizations have more capabilities / funding than the federal government.
I’m hoping it was self-parody and not just a canned form letter response.
m463|1 year ago