Editor:

This has to be a joke - an activist's prank, a setup for Candid Camera, a lost chapter out of Joseph Heller's Catch 22. Tell me I'm seeing things.

But here it is before me - a press release from Congressman Jim Kolbe indicating he'll host a Town Hall on MLK's birthday to hear from Arizonans on "ethnic relations, racial tolerance, and ways in which we can appreciate the diverse cultures upon which Am erica was made."

Jim Kolbe? The Jim Kolbe? The Jim Kolbe who snuck through Congress without hearings a rider authorizing the Mt. Graham telescopes on a place held sacred by the Apaches? The Jim Kolbe who lobbied through this stealth legislation despite the pleas of the Sa n Carlos Apache Tribal Council, supported by the National Council of Churches and the National Congress of American Indians? The Jim Kolbe whose rider undercut the laws protecting Native American culture and religion? That Jim Kolbe?

Did he actually hold hearings on "ethnic relations" and "racial tolerance" and keep a straight face?

Nah. Not even good old Kolbe has the gall for such hypocrisy. It's a joke. Right? Where's the camera? Alan Funt, I know you're here somewhere.

By Wendy Young
Tucson