Letters to the Editor
Members of the DPBC and other concerned citizens have been busy writing letters to the editor to voice their current concerns. Shared with their permissions. Keep up the good work!
Dear editor,
As I was reading the May 8, 2025, edition of the Baxter Bulletin, I remembered the days when people in the United States celebrated the ideas and opinions of people who didn’t agree with them. We believed most ideas deserved consideration and understood we could learn from each other, thus making our country stronger and better. No more. We cancel ideas that don’t align with our own and demonize everyone who doesn’t agree with us. Sophisticated algorithms and the chase for TV ratings and social media clicks ensure we see only “news” and opinions that reinforce what we already believe. Our leaders serve as poisonous role models by using personal attacks and ridicule to counter opposing opinions rather than conceding that other ides might have merit and presenting reasoned arguments. Wake up, people. We are undermining from within a political system and way of life that has been the envy of the world and a role model for other countries for two centuries. If we are not vigilant, we will repeat history and prove that “empires” last only about 200 years. Hate, on the other hand, grows and infects the world.
Vicki Kauth
Thank you Sonny Garrett.
I appreciate Mr. Garrett’s recent columns. His sensible view of our current political world is encouraging to many in Baxter County. There are also many others who disagree with his observations, but isn’t that what makes America great? Freedom of the press, freedom of speech and tolerance of others? Political forces have their time of sway but what is strong at one time fades and others emerge. We just hope that American Democracy and its system of two parties working with varying administrations holds on to their independent roles to work within our three branches of government. Our founders rebelled against a despot and designed our government with checks and balances. One party should not blindly accede to what their temporary leader commands.
Mike Breton
When I read the managing editor's response to requests that the Bulletin cover the 5050-1 rally in Mountain Home on April 17, I nearly spat out my coffee. It is the job of a newspaper to cover a protest or any controversial event. Reporting on an event is not an endorsement, but ignoring an event can be interpreted as a political statement. Thankfully, dozens of news organizations across America do not practice the journalism that Sonny Elliot does.
For example, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette led its state section with photos and a story about the protest at the state capitol opposing the Trump administration's actions, including interviews of the participants and their aims. In no way did the story glorify their cause or condemn it, either. It was a news story objectively reported about an event that brought a sizable number of citizens to the steps of the capitol to express their freedom of opinion. In no way can the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette be described as a liberal mouthpiece, despite the "democrat" in its name. If anything, I believe it leans to the opposite. But it is a reputable, award-winning news vehicle that hasn't abandoned its mission.
Granted, the people on the Mountain Home square a couple of Saturdays ago are in the minority, at least for now. But it was a story. It was witnessed by many in our small town and it deserved a mention in our local paper. I only hope Mr. Elliott's dismissal of those citizens was not influenced by politics.
Democracy is messy but people have, at least for now, a right to gather, protest, and perhaps provide an opportunity for a dad to teach a civics lesson to his young son.
Robert and Cynthia Martin
