all apologies

[Robert Miller]

Dear list,

Recently I made a comment to the list implying that Bill Precht, as an
environmental consultant, might have some ties to the sugar industry in
Florida.  I got this idea from the web page of Precht's former employer,
Consul-Tech, which touts its experience in dealing with development and
agricultural projects.  Precht quickly corrected me, and I
apologize for any misunderstanding.  The comment was not intended as a
personal attack, but as a call for general questioning of the motives of
enviromental consultants.  I think that the inherent conflict of interest
that may be involved always bears scrutiny.  

I am only a graduate student, and my specialty has been deep-sea biology,
rather than coral reef biology.  Thus I was unaware of the severity of
judgement placed on such comments, as Bill Precht wittily expressed 
in the following note.    

Date: Thu, 2 Jul 1998 16:59:55 -0400
From: "Precht,Bill" <BPrecht at kennesaw.Lawco.com>
To: Robert Miller <bmiller at soest.hawaii.edu>
Subject: RE: Reefs at Risk.

Bob:

Just a personal note for your eyes only.

One of the rules of the game for being on the coral list - "NO PERSONAL
SLAMS"

It's not the proper forum.  Next time you pull a stunt like that I'll
ask you to be removed from the list and I'm sure I'll have grassroots
support.

I don't know who you think you are, but your comments regarding my so
called "underlying message" border on being libelous.

I took the time to look for any significant contributions you have made
in the field of coral reef science... As I expected.. you are an
academic dud. 

See you in the funny papers

With Sweetest regards (another reference to big sugar just in case you
didn't get the metaphor),

Bill


Date: Thu, 2 Jul 1998 17:09:06 -0400
From: "Precht,Bill" <BPrecht at kennesaw.Lawco.com>
To: Robert Miller <bmiller at soest.hawaii.edu>
Subject: RE: Reefs at Risk.

By the way...

precautionary principal  is spelled PRINCIPLE