Letter to the editor — May 28, 2013

Dear editor,
There is a show on TV called Ridiculousness. You didn’t have to tune in to the channel to get some of this all over yourself. You just had to drive up and down State Street this past weekend.
The Allen County Sheriff’s Dept. and Iola Police Dept. provided plenty of ridiculousness for the entire town. I’m not sure why they were pulling everybody over, but I can be pretty sure it was not to welcome them to Iola. You can give me all your talking points such as, we’re saving lives, we’re just doing our job, and so on, and so on, but I believe you have been trained right out of your common sense. Why not take off your black leather gloves, your mirrored sunglasses, and your black tactical outfits and start smiling and waving to all the law-abiding citizens of Iola who aren’t all out to get you.
We are getting ready to spend thousands of dollars on signs to welcome people to Iola and you can bet that our law enforcement people will be parked right behind them to unwelcome them. I have no problem with a police presence, Lord knows we have plenty of vehicles and personnel to make a very bold statement, but this idea we have to pull as many people over as we can will run more people out of Iola than we can replace with any kind of ad campaign.
Let’s start being more like Andy and a lot less like Barney.
Don Erbert,
Iola, Kan.