072924...R PUSKAS...Warren...07-29-24...Tribune Chronicle/Vindicator Editor Ed Puskas...by R. Michael Semple

A few weeks ago, a letter to the editor arrived via the Tribune Chronicle’s Virtual Newsroom, through which folks can submit news items, letters, obituaries, tips and sports results — among other things.

A lot of readers send letters this way. Others submit via email, some send them through the U.S. mail and some still fax.

But something seemed off about this particular letter. It was from a person who called himself “Ron Sadler” and gave a Warren address, but a California telephone area code. That’s not altogether unusual today, but the letter seemed “canned,” almost as if it was a form letter. The topic was climate change, and it felt like something I’d read before.

A quick cut-and-paste job in Google verified my intuition, or “spider sense,” as I like to call it. The same “letter” — from the same “Ron Sadler” — had appeared in several newspapers from coast to coast. And the Warren address? It came back to what appeared to be an abandoned home in Warren. The interwebs reveal all.

I sent an email to the writer’s address just to let him know I was on to him and to ask what the point of the deception was. I suspect he’s one of those California zealots who believe the ends (winning the climate-change battle) justify the means (employing deception to get the message out).

I didn’t really expect a response, so I wasn’t disappointed when I didn’t get one. But I was still curious about what this person hoped to accomplish.

The situation also made me wonder about why these other newspapers apparently don’t do much in the way of vetting the letters they receive. That isn’t the case here, nor at the previous word factory where part of my job was to collect, confirm, edit and publish letters to the editor. I took that role seriously then and now.

This week, another letter from “Ron Sadler” arrived via The Vindicator’s VNR. This time, his city of residence was Youngstown and again, the address came back to a dilapidated home that appeared unoccupied. Again, I pasted a paragraph into Google and discovered that the same letter — this time about the evils of the fossil-fuel industry — had appeared in newspapers in New Hampshire and Vermont.

“Ron Sadler” sure gets around. In addition to Warren and Youngstown, he also seems to have residences in Palm Springs, California; Lebanon, New Hampshire; St. Albans Town, Vermont; Sheridan, Wyoming; Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; and Salt Lake City, Utah. I’m sure there are many more.

The question is why? What does this person expect to accomplish by scamming newspapers — and their readers — with these bogus letters? Why go through the trouble to seek out actual street addresses in these places to make the letters appear legitimate when it is so easy to figure out they’re fake that a lifelong Cleveland Browns fan can do it?

To me, this conduct just confirms what a lot of people already think — that some of these climate zealots simply can’t be trusted. And if the same person from Southern California has to send duplicate letters to various newspapers across the country, what does that say about the number of folks who are actually dedicated to the cause?

Can’t we get the extremely dedicated “Ron Sadler” a little help? Why does he have to do all of this himself?

Don’t get me wrong. I like clean water, pristine lakes and rivers, healthy people and animals and air that doesn’t smell like the aftermath of a train wreck as much as anyone else. But do some people feel it is necessary to be deceptive in the pursuit of these things? I don’t think it helps the cause and probably hurts it, if we’re being honest. If a newspaper editor can’t trust that a letter he or she receives is legitimate, how can we be sure the content of such letters — not to mention the motivation behind them — is real?

So I guess “Ron Sadler” has accomplished something after all. He has — in his quest to get his letters published nationwide — ensured that this humble, ink-stained wretch will be extra vigilant.

Just call me the Patrick Roy of rejecting fake letters.

Ed Puskas is editor of the Tribune Chronicle and The Vindicator. He can be reached at epuskas@trib

today.com or 330-841-1786.