To the Editor:

There is an extremely offensive, racially repugnant e-mail circulating the parish which has my name attached to it. It was sent when I was in Boston and I was shown a copy when I returned home and also asked if I had sent it. That was the first time I’d ever seen it and I didn’t understand how it could have been sent from my e-mail address.

Last week, I was contacted by L’Observateur and given a copy, along with a separate sheet indicating the e-mail had come from my mailing address. I was convinced that was not possible because the sending time indicated 13:03 military time (1:03 p.m.) and at that time I was standing outside Fenway Park trying to purchase tickets for the afternoon game. (As evidence) I brought my ticket stub from the game to L’Observateur to show where I was when the e-mail was sent. I believed my computer and password had been compromised, and I changed my password.

Since I thought there was also a possibility that someone had used copy and paste to create this, I contacted some of the people on the list to see if they had actually received this e-mail. A few said they had not, but some said they had received it in the morning and not in the afternoon as the paper had stated.

At this point, I realized that somehow I might have mistakenly forwarded this e-mail. On the morning of May 24, I was on the computer starting at 7:39 a.m. forwarding about eight e-mails of general material … nothing malignant. It was 8:03 when the racist e-mail (called) LoveBug went out. That was the last e-mail sent from the computer. I honestly do not recall reading or forwarding it, but think I might have popped it open and sent it without looking at it, because I was in a hurry to catch the early bus into Boston.

I would never have knowingly sent this to anyone on that mailing list. Why would anyone believe I would intentionally send this garbage to family members, people whom I respect, and members of the West Bank Volunteer Fire Department, whom I admire for all the contributions they have given to this community? I would never have knowingly done such a thing.

I should have apologized to all sooner, truly did not believe I was responsible, and have only gradually come to the conclusion I may have. I receive about 700 e-mails a week — 99 percent are uplifting, positive pieces of mail and perhaps 1 percent is toxic. I cannot control what I receive, but I can certainly control what I forward. That e-mail should have been deleted, and if I had read it, it would have been.

1 have sent an apology to all those who have received this e-mail, and I also want to apologize to anyone who might have seen it being circulated. I love the community of St John, have lived here all my life and I would never have knowingly done something like this that would hurt so many.

Frank Fagot

LaPlace

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Mr. Fagot’s letter was sent as a public apology to the citizens of St. John Parish.)