An analysis of David Roepke’s Feb. 25 column, “Letters to the editor could use more logic, fewer morons,” reveals a troubling number of outright insults to the Daily’s readership.

By my count, he used the words “crappy,” “stupid,” “dumb,” “crap,” “klansmen” and “moronic” (twice) to make his point that only an elite band of campus citizens have the right to pen letters to the editor.

Gee, and I thought that I had lost my youthful ideology after all of these years in the real world.

Please, Daily readers, remember that the opinion page belongs to you.

Any columnist who would be so arrogant as to write the sentence, “I get paid to force my opinion on people … I may not be all that great sometimes either, but the difference is I get paid for it should not be taken seriously.

Letters to the editor are the life blood of good newspapers, as well as good societies. Remember those who fought and died to protect the First Amendment.

As a professional journalist, I sincerely hope Mr. Roepke’s views on the management of opinion pages do not represent those of Iowa State University’s journalism department.

As for Mr. Roepke himself, he should hope and pray that his “moronic” (to borrow an insult) column doesn’t find its way into his portfolio.

Bill Rentsch

Alumnus

Fort Dodge

Editor

Farm News/The Messenger