Dear Editor,
I have had a subscription to the News Letter Journal for over a decade, ever since I spent two months in Newcastle renovating my late wife’s (Sharon Plumley’s) home on Grove Street.
I read the NLJ because I wanted to keep in touch with the goings-on of a community and people that renovation experience taught me to love almost as much as Sharon loved Newcastle. My dealings with the neighbors, merchants, electricians, plumbers, plasterers and particularly my wonderful carpenter, Dusty Rhoades, were always pleasant and I received excellent value from all of them for the money spent.
It has been and always will be one of my most cherished memories.
The time I spent in Newcastle happened to be during one of the presidential election cycles. It didn’t take me long to realize that Weston County is pretty solidly Republican, and as a Democrat and an “outsider” I saw no need to express my views. In the country I come from you accept people for who they are and how they treat you, not for what they believe or how they pray or whom they love. I think that is largely true in Weston County as well.
When my NLJ arrives in the mail (on Monday) I usually read it before I read the Albuquerque Journal. I love the Should have seen it in color section, Gwamma, and of course the Letters to the Editor.
I always marvel at the courage of Jerry Baird. I wonder if his many detractors who find fault with his opinions, and so vehemently attack his ideology, fully appreciate the courage required to write letter after letter that he knows will be vilified by the majority of the people who read it?
Of course it is the right of anyone to disagree with him and express that dissenting opinion. I am willing to bet there are few people in Weston County that would more quickly rise to the defense of free speech than Jerry Baird. Free speech means free speech for everyone, not just the people we agree with or want to hear.
Weston County, you are fortunate to have a man who is willing to show you the other side of the coin. There are always at least two ways of looking at every issue.
You don’t have to agree with Jerry Baird, but you are lucky to have him among you, willing to let you know what the loyal opposition thinks so you can ponder their views. Remember, the answer to the most difficult questions that plague mankind are usually found somewhere in the middle.
—Thom Allen Munson
Belen, New Mexico