Should have taken a stand for free speech
It is disappointing when decent and essentially honorable people like Honesdale businessperson Alfred Howell sometimes lack the courage necessary to stand up to the intimidating threats by special interest groups, like the so-called "right-to-lifers" of Wayne County. , Honesdale, PA, circa 1992
Such groups, by their tactics, treat upon fundamental rights basic to a democratic repubic. They also tend to claim more influence, or dire results, than they are actually able to produce when faced with a citizen who refuses to bow to extortion.
While Mr. Howell might have risked a temporary decline inbusiness by standing up for free speech, and not reneging on his word, permitting the Wayne County Pro-Choice Coallition the promised few feet of space in front of his store during the recent sidewalk sale, such an action would have sent a strong message that brownshirt tactics will not be tolerated. It would have been worth the risk.
The situation reminded me of an attempted boycott, a few years ago, against the advertisers of a local newspaper which took an unpopular editorial stand on a controversial environmental issue. When the owner of another local business (Canal Coaches of Honesdale) was threatened with a loss of customers, he scoffed and doubled his advertising, refusing to be strongarmed. Not surprisingly, his business is still prosperous. The owner kept his self-respect, and the threatened boycott fell by the wayside, forgotten.
Freedom of choice begins with free expression of both popular and unpopular ideas.
TOM RUE, President
Upper Delawre Unitarian Universalist Fellowship
Milanville
The Wayne Independent
Commended
To the Dispatch:
The staff of the Dispatch should be commended for the prominent and extensive news coverage given to the disbarment and criminal proceedings against John A. Wittmaack of Lords Valley. , Milford, Pa., 01-23-1992
Public trust in the largely honorable legal profession can be destroyed when even a few unscrupulous lawyers are permitted to creep into the works.
Open airing of misconduct allegations agains the most egregious of these scumbags, and strict sentencing of the guilty, is the only way to restor and maintain full public confidence in our system of justice.
Keep it up!
With every good wish,
Thomas S. Rue
Pike County Dispatch
See also letter of 04-16-1987
Resolved against hatred
BE IT RESOLVED, That we the undersigned members and friends of the Upper Delaware Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, gathered for services this 4th day of October, 1992, denounce racism, harassment, prejudice, bigotry and discrimination in all their forms. We embrace friendship, unity, interpersonal respect, diversity and civil rights, and denounce that which is inhuman, demeaning, and factionalizing. , Callicoon, NY, 10-08-1992
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That we are horrified and embarrassed that a chapter of the cowardly and hateful group known as the Ku Klux Klan now appears to be taking root in the mid-Hudson valley, and bear passionate witness to our concern that no member of the Klan, the American Nazi Party, or any similar hateful white supremecist group, have any place within our Fellowship or within our communities, now or at any time in the future.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That this Fellowship seeks to join with other local organizations which are of like mind.
Respectfully submitted,
THOMAS RUE, Monticello
CARMEN B. RUE, Monticello
LORAN SHLEVIN, Cochecton
GLENN PONTIER, Narrowsburg
MURIEL B. BREWER, Lakeville
CLYDE B. RUE (aka Bud Rue), Milanville
LAURIE STUART, Narrowsburg
ROBERT F. BREWER, Lakeville
BARBARA YEAMAN, Milanville
ANN RUE, Milanville
MAR JEANA HOWARD, Honesdale
REV. RAYMOND PONTIER, Narrowsburg
GILBERT H. MENDE, Milanville
THOMAS F. KANE, Narrowsburg
The Sullivan County Democrat
The River Reporter, Narrowsburg, NY, 11-13-1992
[and other newspapers about the same time]
03-24-1998
