Freedom of opinion

Let this letter be a warning to anyone who expresses their views in writing to be published. Executing your first amendment rights to free speech does not set well with some long time residents in this area and they will definitely let you know that your kind is not wanted.

Because of my letter to the editor opposing Project 56, I have twice been verbally abused in public. Both times resulted in a yelling match in a public gathering place! The first encounter was over a month ago and the last one was just last week. The first one was bad enough, but the second involvement started only after the abuser found out my name and started screaming that my kind was not welcome in Ritzville and I should move the heck out!

My wife and I moved here in 2006, and remodeled two homes. During that period I became involved in community efforts to bring visitors to Ritzville. I was one of the co-founders of the “Ritzville Historic Days Western Art Show,” for a short period I was a member of the Chamber board and one of the first curators of the “Ritzville Art Gallery.” I felt a need to get involved with the community that I chose to live in during my retirement years.

You do the math I retired in January of 2002 at the age of 65. Voicing my opinion should not be fuel for my neighbors to abuse me, no matter how many of their generations have lived here or what their standing is in the community or the size of their bank accounts. I, like Barry Boyer, have a right to our opinion, as do you. I refuse to put my tail between my legs and run. I have just as much right to live in Ritzville as any long time resident and I am getting sick of hearing the phrase “Outsider.”

Ritzville sets on American soil and I am an American, born and raised, and should not be considered an outsider within the boundaries of the United States of America. I pay my fair share of property taxes! I do not hide behind a senior citizen discount, as I have not learned yet how to hide my income! If fear is the product that long time residents of Ritzville are trying to sell to folks like me, I’m not in the market. If my wife and I choose to move out of Ritzville, it will be our decision and not the result of some drunken threat!

Jim Lisk, Ritzville