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To the Editor:
Many Americans watched thousands or even tens of thousands of their fellow citizens die before their eyes Tuesday morning, September 11th, 2001.
People who had their televisions
turned on shortly before 10:30 a.m. Eastern
time and 7:30 a.m. Pacific time had just watched video replays of a Kamikaze-type attack upon the World Trade Center.
Even the chilling sight of a civilian passenger aircraft angling into position for a direct crash into one of the 110-story twin towers could not prepare us for what was next.
We watched live video of the tower as its top 30 or so stories burned. And then, the top of the building collapsed before our eyes. We watched in stunned silence as it impacted on the structure below, starting a horrible chain reaction of destruction. We knew immediately that an incomprehensibly high number of human lives were lost in those few seconds.
And it didn't take long to realize that what we were witnessing was the result of perhaps the single most deadly attack against Americans, either on foreign or domestic soil.
Deadlier than Pearl Harbor. Deadlier than the Battle of Midway. Incredibly, the death toll could approach the 50,000 who died in the three-day Battle of Gettysburg in the U.S. Civil War.
Tuesday's Kamikaze-style attacks were nothing less than a direct attack against the people and property of the United States of America. The enemy didn't use bombs, didn't use missiles, and didn't use ground or sea forces.
Don't let anyone try to tell you that this was merely someone's attempt to make a statement. We will remember Tuesday, September 11th, 2001, as the day that the nation's eyes were opened forever to the scope of the threat posed by foreign terrorists. It was the day than an individu-al or group as yet unidentified declared war on the United States of America.
The majority of readers were not alive when Pearl Harbor occurred, so this is the first time many have experienced the horror of a successful attack of large magnitude against the United States by a foreign interest.
We are now at war. We're not exactly sure with whom, although it should become fairly clear in short order.
Nobody is in favor of civilian casual-ties or the loss of human life of any kind. But the time has come for the United States to exercise its might and position as the world's superpower, and to spare no expense and leave no stone or nation un-turned to locate and capture and/or eradicate the perpetrators.
President Bush, Tuesday morning, vowed to do just that.
It's time that we show not only the perpetrators of this attack, but other terrorists who have designs on U.S. interests, that we are not to be messed with. In the aftermath of the terrorists being captured or eradicated, it is impor-tant other terror interests in the world be left shaking in their shoes at the enormity, precision, and the decisiveness of the U.S. response.
We mourn the thousands and perhaps tens of thousands of Americans who died Tuesday, September 11th, 2001, in New York, Washington, D.C., and near Pitts-burgh. We must defend our way of life and avenge their senseless deaths by realizing that we are at war and eradicating our enemy.
Tim Mitsoff, Beavercreek, Ohio
To the Editor:
I am writing to see if it would be possible for you to send me a copy of your July Gazette, or e-mail a copy of an article that appeared in that edition. It is my understanding that someone wrote a column about the baseball field in Ely, Minnesota. I am the Ely Legion Baseball coach and in charge of the summer base-ball program here. Thanks in advance for your help.
Tom Coombe, Ely, Minnesota
To the Editor:
Good afternoon. I am from Minneso-ta Valley Electric Cooperative and I am inquiring about your newspaper advertis-ing rates. Wright Hennepin, a fellow cooperative, places cellular phone ads for our cooperative and they are requesting that I give them advertising rates and a sample copy of your newspaper. They are considering placing ads in your publica-tion. Could you please mail me the infor-mation I need to provide them?
Terri Bakken, MVEC, Jordan, Minnesota
To the Editor:
The four horsemen of the apocalypse -- Famine, Pestilence, Disease, War -- are running unchecked and roughshod across the earth.
There is starvation in Third World countries, and even in the United States. Germ warfare is a threat. Cancer, AIDS, and E-coli claim countless lives. Our president wants to unite all nations in an effort to wipe out terrorism. Our prayers are with him.
Jesse Coghill, Jordan, Minnesota
To the Editor:
Just one question ...
Now that the President has called us to prayer, now that Congress has called us to prayer, now that our Governor has called us to prayer, now that the city mayor has called us to prayer, now that the liberal media and most other branches of our American society have called us to prayer ... and now that our churches are assemb-ling in special prayer, I have only one question ... of the Honorable Justices of the Supreme Court ... would it now be okay to pray in our schools?
Ron Holtmeier, Victoria, Minnesota
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