Editor:
I just put down your May 5 edition. I MAY finish reading it after writing this letter. I found the cartoon by Joel Mielke to be deeply disturbing on so many levels that I hardly know where to start. He would seem to imply that residents of Fortuna (and Eureka) are rednecks of low mental capacity who would run out into the street half-dressed, half-drunk and shooting firearms in celebration of the death of Bin Laden. Do I have that right?? And he also would seem to imply that by omitting other communities (read: Arcata?), he feels that they fall into another (more enlightened?) category. I would be interested to know how residents of Arcata would react to a stereotype depicting them all as pot-smoking, dreadlocked, grow-house operators.
This is WAY too edgy for me and I don’t even live in Fortuna. I am, however, a member of and range officer for the Fortuna Pistol Club, which has been promoting the safe and responsible use of firearms for longer than I can remember, and I personally know of no one who resembles the idiot depicted in Mr. Mielke’s cartoon. I not only find his stereotype to be offensive to me but also feel offended by your having published it. While I may continue to read the Journal from time to time, I will, since I recycle, now and in the future visualize it as being recycled to toilet paper. Some satisfaction can be found in that thought.
Steve Courtemanche, Ferndale
This article appears in Summer of Fun! 2011.
Something tells me Mr. Courtemanche has fired a gun in a similar fashion to Mr. Mielke’s character (minus the beer of course) in celebration of something in his lifetime