[Mike B.]

Opinion page from the Globe....

If you won’t give your name, don’t speak

I always stood up for right, even if standing there was not in my best interest. I never wrote an anonymous note or letter to anyone or any newspaper. I never spoke behind someone's back without first speaking to their front.
As board president, I have received and trashed dozens of unopened letters with no return address. Because I am a true believer in freedom of speech, I give absolutely no credence or regard to anonymous communication of any kind. If you don't want someone to hear you, don't speak! If you are too afraid to identify yourself when you speak, then you are certainly not living in my America. Anonymous does not have an address in America and cannot vote in any election.

In our Constitution, the First Amendment gives Americans five basic rights, and the first of those five is freedom. Thursday's coward's column is a slap in the face to any free speech-loving American and is 100 percent counter-productive to building a positive, forward-moving community.



Complaining, especially anonymously, about elected officials, taxes, event centers, casinos, schools, Wyatt Earp construction or any number of the "extreme burdens" of life in Dodge City hasn't fixed or built anything in this community yet. Have you actually stopped and listened to yourselves as you sip your morning coffee? I still think that it is amazing that some are having such pain living here, and I am having such joy. Did you notice that the people who threatened to pack up and leave four years ago are still here and still complaining? They must have a lot to pack.

And no, I don't want anyone to pack. I want all of us to live out what we teach our children, grandchildren and students. Attitude is everything!! A rotten outlook on life will always, always, always give you a rotten life! Duh! A rotten outlook concerning your community will always, always, always produce a less than satisfactory life experience for you, and it won't help make things better for others either.

You and only you are in charge of your attitude. No one forces you to dress in that sad-looking attitude each morning, and you should be embarrassed to wear a battered and too-well-used rag such as that all day. Besides, isn't that what you wore yesterday and the day before and the day before? Maybe, for various reasons, you can't change your address, but you can change your attitude concerning this community and by doing so, you will make it better for everybody, including yourself.

From my earliest years in Central School, my teachers taught me that I had the right to have an opinion but also a duty to take ownership of that opinion by signing my name. My family taught me that I am in charge of my own daily joy and happiness. So I will happily sign my name to this because a basic elementary education and love for the Constitution would not allow me to do otherwise.

Danny Reichenborn

I've about had it with this type of manipulation. Dan just for your info. I have read the U.S. Constitution and I find that everyone is allow to speak their mind and yeS, even to do it anonymousLy.

This man Is another fine exaMple of how certain, negitive, people in this city are trying to silence it's citizens. If someone has a concern and expresses it, then people like Reichenborn paint them as negitive. Well, Dan you are wrong on this one. There are alot of people and business owners who speak anonymously because there is a price to pay iF they offend the wrong people.

The lAst time I checked hundredS of thousands of men, women and yes, even children gave the supreme sacrifice to ensure thaT all people have the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. For this man to tell people to stop speaking is deplorable and should not be tolerated.