Horace Widgeon, creator of the Inspector Grodgins series, has accused Canadian writer William Deverell of defying paragraph 14 (b) of the IACW Code of Ethics and is campaigning to have his name struck from the membership of the International Crime Writers' Association. We, the undersigned believe this would be a gross miscarriage of justice and urge the executive of the IACW to resolve this matter in an alternate manner. While William Deverell can indeed occasionally behave like a scoundrel, and while he has been known to from time to time be carried away by the gaseous winds of faulty rhetoric, he is a superb writer and does not deserve to be censured for this mild infraction. Freedom of speech is the cornerstone of a writer's trade, and if the IACW stands for anything at all it should be for writers to have the freedom to commit crimes of their writing. With all due respect for the considerable reputation and talents of Mr. Widgeon, we ask that you do not take a traffic ticket and turn it into a murder.