Butch Barker: Cowards make my job, your rights a bit tough

by BUTCH BARKER

If you pay much attention to The Parthenon, you'll notice this page is usually reserved for opinion ­ mine and yours.

We've had a recent problem with people sending letters without signing them. There-fore, we didn't have enough opinions to fill the page because we don't run unnamed letters.

Actually, that's not the reason. We had to give up this page to accommodate for ads. However, we have had a problem lately with cowards sending anonymous letters to The Parthenon.

One has become quite public. It was the letter that suggested we here at The Parthenon are all homosexual and are on a "everybody love queers campaign."

So what if we are gay? Our sexuality shouldn't be a concern to anyone. However, the fact that this person sent a letter, now classified as a solid act of hate, without stating their name, concerns me.

But the bus doesn't stop here.

We've also received a few letters concerning the "controversy" over The Parthenon's new cartoons. Some people find it very hard to fathom a squirrel saying "kwee."

I think "kwee" is funny myself.

Did I mention these letters also were not signed? Well, they weren't. More cowards.

We offer an opinion page so our readers can express their views. I'm uncertain if these cowards intended us to print the letters, but I'm leaning more toward no.

I believe these were personal attacks and I only wish the "gay basher" who sent the distasteful letter had not have gained any fame from this.

It's like a serial killer story. No one wants killers to become known, but because it's only fair to make their acts known to the public, it's unavoidable.

The same goes to our letter sender. We didn't just want to tell our readers we received a bad letter. We wanted you to know what it consisted of. We want you to know the whole story.

Don't expect me to write a column every time we receive an unnamed letter, but I thought you should know what people are thinking. Even if they are too cowardly to sign their names.

I haven't let the letter, now known to the public, bother me. I think our cartoonist James Harris also has been strong. We're in this business to serve the public. We're going to be criticized and praised alike. We just ask that we know who likes what we're doing and who doesn't.

Actually, it's kind of funny what people concern themselves with. It amazes me that we receive evil letters because we're a diverse newspaper. It amazes me more that insensitive people will slam a cartoonist.

If all these people focused their attention on our real problems, we'd all live in a better world. Become a Big Brother or a Big Sister. Volunteer at a hospital. Study. Do something worthwhile, you'll feel good about yourself.

Your criticisms are welcome, but have the balls to sign your name.

Butch Barker is editor of The Parthenon. If you have questions about his sexuality or his thoughts on "kwee," call 696-6696 and leave your NAME.