Hi Joe,
Don't know what happened to your posts. (I didn't do it
) They had been moved to a new thread call something like 'Another Barbarossa thread' the other day but I can't find that thread now.
Re your letter writing campaign, might I just add that telescope time is not allocated by Grad students nor by most Professional Astronomers. The time is pre-ordained by Time Allocation Committees with the occassional 'Directors' discression (ie director of the observatory) for special or noteworthy events. I don't think any of them would risk their jobs by stealing time from 'paying customers'.
You may get further by actually putting up a request for telescope time (all the observatories have the forms and instructions on the process on their web sites).
Cheers
David