Dear Ithaca Journal Editor "The Cayuga Mermaids have feminine fins"

We the Mermaids of Cayuga Lake feel compelled to point out certain inaccuracies in your otherwise entertaining coverage of the Ithaca Festival Parade.

Your reporter’s reference to us as “men dressed as shiny blue mermaids” was obviously un-researched journalism at best.

Although it is true that the veracity of our identity as mermaids has indeed been questioned before, we can assure you of the irrefutable substantiated and witnessed fact that we are all 100% women.

In this gender sensitive town and time we’re sure that you can imagine the humiliation and chagrin that such careless reporting might cause. Indeed, so traumatized was one of the members at reading your article that the ensuing laughter caused the loss of both her spectacles and her bladder control.

We doubt that your errors in fact-checking are likely to cause rioting in Afghanistan, but nonetheless we feel that an apology is in order

May we recommend printing this letter along with the accompanying color photograph, preferably on the page with the banner headline ‘MERMAIDS FALSELY IDENTIFIED.’

Editors note: The Ithaca Journal apologies for confusing the mermaids with mermen, who are rarely seen on Cayuga Lake.