At the beginning of the year of 2000, my friends and I were sitting outside the
Polish church in Los Angeles handing out information and discussing various
political issues. After the mass, a man raised a topic that had nothing to
do with our presentation. He showed us a copy of the "Time Almanac 2000"
that contained an inaccurate depiction of the Polish flag. He probably had
no idea that by bringing this matter to our attention he was about to start
a popular campaign. Although we didn't keep in touch very much with this
man, we put our efforts together to fight what appeared to be the
profanation of our national flag. Within a few months, hundreds of letters
were sent and as many phone calls were made to Time, Inc. Our campaign was
joined by members of the Polish Embassy in Washington DC, Polish political
groups from Chicago and New York, various Polish organizations, and many
other individuals including Americans of non-Polish descent. To our
pleasant surprise, Polish people with different political, social and
cultural points of view became united from all over the US in the campaign
to stop the profanation of the Polish flag. Nonetheless, our letters, phone
calls and emails were repeatedly ignored while incompetent Time
representatives gave us the runaround. Consequently, we sent a final
letter to Time, Inc. accompanied by similar messages from other Polish
groups. We pointed out that by ignoring our correspondence and by making
such careless errors, Time, Inc. was undermining its reputation as a
reliable publisher. Finally, Time, Inc. issued both an apology to the
Polish community and a guarantee that the 2001 and subsequent editions of
the Time Almanac will contain the correct colors of the Polish flag. Our
success has been the result of a coordinated campaign that united various
Polish communities proving that we, together as Poles, can defend the
dignity of Poland-the country of our ancestry.
I thank everyone who took
part in this successful endeavor.
Bob Sobanski
B. Sobanski
PO BOX 21128
Long Beach, Ca 90-801
bobi2000@hotmail.com
Borgna Brunner, Editor TIME Almanac 2000
20 Park Plaza
Boston, MA 02116
We are writing concerning "TIME Almanac 2000" millennial edition, where on page 521 it contains a depiction of the Polish flag shown as a combination of two stripes: white and black.
The Polish flag has always have been composed of white and red colors. A national flag is one of the most sacred symbols of any country and Poland is not an exemption in this matter.
Time Inc. was informed by hundreds of letters, emails and phone calls about this -we're hoping- printing error, but officially did not give any response. This kind of errors and customer service relations ruins “Time” reputation as a depending source of information. We are asking Time Inc. to issue a statement with apology and a correction note to the Polish community. We also demand to let us know what Time Inc. is doing about this whole situation.
We certainly do hope, there will be no need for any (legal) action against
"Time" - pending, that Time take appropriate steps that should be taken in
these circumstances.
We greatly regret the error made in portraying the Polish flag in our almanac and will correct it in next year’s edition.
In previous editions of the almanac the colors of the Polish flag were presented correctly. Last year, however, we had a different printer handle our color section, which resulted in several errors in our flag section.
We also have a Website (www.infoplease.com) that features much of almanac’s content. The Polish flag is correct on the site.
Again, we apologize for this error and assure you it will be corrected in the future.
Sincerely yours,
Borgna Brunner
Editor
The Time Almanac.
Recently we have come across a printed copy of “ Time Almanac 2000” where on page 521 it contains a depiction of the Polish flag shown as combination of stripes; white and black.
Please be informed that the Polish flag has always been composed of white and red colors. A national fag is one of the most sacred symbols of any state and Poland is not an exemption in this matter.
Hoping that was only a printing error we are kindly requesting the removal of all copies of “Time Almanac 2000” from bookstores, as well as issuing a statement with apology and a correction note to the Polish community. We certainly do hope, there will be no need for legal action against “Time” pending, that you take appropriate steps that should be taken in these circumstances.
Best regards,