School wrong to cancel talk
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Editor,
On Sunday, May 27, readers of the Inter Lake op-ed pages and letters saw, above the op-ed page fold, writing titled “In the land of the free” by Gerald Molen, a Hollywood producer now living in Bigfork. Mr. Molen was, in this area, quite well-publicized in various publications as to his speech in the Ronan Middle school auditorium prior to the delivery of it in the evening of May 14. So wife June and I decided, based on Molen’s mentioned credentials, to attend the speech by him. Molen spoke of his coming movie “Obama 2016” due to be released in June 2012. But his main thrust was American patriotism and the legacy of being blessed as Americans with such a legacy by the founders. And also mentioning those who’ve fought and died in defending for us the richness of freedom we now possess. I’m paraphrasing because I didn’t have a recorder, but most of all I wish to stress, based on the outrageous stance by those of the school (or the callers mentioned) in Ronan, that Mr. Molen in no way in his speech to us sullied the present president, or was in any way a flaming wild-eyed radical conservative as was suspected, I guess, by some of the Ronan populace.
Those calling the shots at the school, who turned thumbs down on his scheduled talk to seniors the afternoon of May 14, should be highly reprimanded for not only their short-sighted knee jerk, but also their obvious bias and lack of respect for the First Amendment provisions we all hold dear.
Shame on you in Ronan — and you know who you are — with such shallowness and disrespect to a good man (Mr. Molen) and our Constitution. Not only that but also for your obvious misjudgment of those (your own students) who would have been the audience, and their ability to decide credibility to a speech by any guest speaker of whatever political bent he or she might be. In a word: disgusting.
Will Elliott
Polson
