Raleigh

Traveling to Winston-Salem the other day, I happened across an undelivered letter addressed to Dell Computers.

Being a nosy reporter type, I couldn't help but read it.

I've been trying to decide what to do with it ever since. I concluded that the best course is to simply reprint here. Maybe it will get to its intended recipient.

So, here it is:

Dear Sirs and Madams,

It has come to our attention, based on comments by officials from your firm, that you apparently missed some recent major events. Although it may be a shock to learn this news, starting in October, America's financial sector began unraveling due to some poor decisions about lending standards and how to structure the home mortgage business.

This near-collapse of the banking and investment banking sectors was accompanied by a number of corporations, including auto makers, asking the federal government to bail them out with hundreds of billions of dollars from taxpayers.

This concept of coming to the government with your hand out, while mouthing platitudes about capitalism and free competition, shouldn't be alien to Dell. After all, you decided to build a computer manufacturing plant in Winston-Salem only after state and local governments agreed to fork over tax breaks and cash worth $280 million.

These economic events to which you were apparently ignorant are largely responsible for a weakening in your own business. Perhaps more importantly, at least from a public relations standpoint, these events have created deep mistrust of corporate America. In fact, those people whom you depend on to buy your computers, some of them would like to give a big sock in the kisser to anyone whose job title is CEO, CFO or vice president for corporate whatever.

Only your ignorance of these events and failure to account for this sentiment could explain your continuing secrecy about layoffs at the Winston-Salem plant and their effects on the promised tax breaks.

Surely Dell spokesman David Frink had been on leave in another country for the last six months before telling the Greensboro News and Record: "We've got no plans to discuss specific work force reduction numbers for sites or business groups If you call again next week, the answer won't be any more specific."

Mr. Frink or Michael Dell or anyone else at the computer maker should know that we, the taxpayers, only want to make sure that you're OK, up to the job and maybe one day will be able to stand on your own two feet. Our concern is understandable.

So, now that we've informed you of these events that you somehow missed and reminded you of your reliance on the good people of North Carolina in your struggle to become self-sufficient, grown-up corporation, we would hope you would reconsider your secretive ways.

Sincerely,

The People's Corporate Charity and Welfare Foundation

Scott Mooneyham writes for Capitol Press Association. Contact him at smooneyh@ncinsider.com.