Thanks for service

To the editor:

Upon learning of the shocking attack upon the Marion County Record and the tragic death of Joan Meyer that it precipitated, I wanted to do something from my far away location in Orlando, Florida, to show my sympathy and support.

The only tangible thing I thought I could do was subscribe to your paper, and so I did.

Since that time, I have enjoyed my weekly glimpse into life in Marion County and my following of the aftermath of that sad event.

Thanks to your reporting, those interested from afar know that some of that trauma is being addressed and remedied.

I am hopeful that your continued efforts will ultimately change some hearts and enlighten some minds.

In that regard, you do some of the most important work to preserve our republic. Your personal sacrifice to keep the free press alive cannot be praised enough. Your editorial in the April 24 issue inspired me to extend my personal word of support.

I am truly worried for our country given the state of the Republican Party. I would never have believed so many in our country could sign on to the fascist false rhetoric now being put out. Politicians that I know to be intelligent echo this line rather than speak the truth and jeopardize their seats.

Where are the Bob Dole Republicans who can support their conservative positions and yet work with and have the respect of their opponents?

Where are the Edmund Ross Republicans who could be held up for their courage by a liberal Democrat?

Where are the Barry Goldwater Republicans who could tell their own Republican president that it was time to go?

While I grew up in a segregated South, I have lived long enough to see some change that gave me hope. Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka was decided when I was a senior in high school.

I also had the good fortune to attend college in Kansas City from 1954 to 1958. I there acquired some lifelong friends who grew up and continued to live in Kansas and Missouri. Joe Teasdale, a classmate of mine at Rockhurst College, served as governor of Missouri.

My college years gave me an appreciation for the solid, hardworking folks of the Midwest.

I am now afraid for my country. We could continue to slide into an abyss that will so weaken us that outside forces will be able to challenge our survival.

We need two strong parties composed of patriots that struggle and compromise to preserve the best goals of our nation while protecting its valuable institutions.

In your own corner of our nation, you are providing a life blood to our political body. May you continue to strive and survive.

Andrew Coomes
Orlando, Florida