Hello Ms Barnett and greetings from Tennessee.
I ended up somehow on your editorial of October 20, 2020, from my Google search of the 1st Amendment. That search was done to refresh my education of the Bill of Rights and specifically the 1st Amendment from my reading of Victor Davis Hanson’s new book: The Dying Citizen. Educated as an engineer and then an oral surgeon, I am trying to “catch up” on important subjects other than math or biology.
Then, I Googled Kiowa County, Colorado and saw your small city there in eastern Colorado not too far from Colorado Springs. As a pilot, we fly from our home in east Tennessee to our “other” home in Driggs, Idaho, and I pass not too far north of you. I like to explore our great nation.
As I perused your newspaper website, I lamented our local paper’s (The Oak Ridger) lurch to the left having been purchased by USA Today. That happened almost simultaneously with the purchase of Knoxville Tennessee’s, The News Sentinel. Both papers are in their death throes now. It is very sad.
Reading your editorial, I think I recognize who you are and how much you love our country. I also suspect that you lament its recent changes and fear its future.
I talk with friends and ask, “What can we do to save our country?” The only concrete answer that I get is, “Elect real leaders.”
Come on, America! You can do this! We need leaders.
Thank you for your dedication to our country and for your strong voice. You do have the gift of words, and they are very readable because they speak the truth and they come from the heart. Now, I know more about the First Amendment.
Travis Witherington
140 E. Division Road
Oak Ridge, TN 37830
