LETTERS: ANTI-CROSS GROUP JUST WANTS TO MAKE TROUBLE

To the editor:

I was shocked when I read your Tuesday article about the Freedom From Religion folks challenging the cross near Mt. Auburn Road and Kingshighway. I then noted a similar story on TV, reread your article and was outraged.

Annie Gaylor and her friends in Madison, Wis., have probably never been to Cape Girardeau or seen the cross. They just want to cause trouble. The local person who originally complained exhibited such graveness, seeking privacy to avoid backlash. Well, backlash is what Freedom From Religion will get if they try to mess with the cross. I fought for our country in Vietnam, and I'll fight for the cross any day. That cross will be removed over my cold, God-loving, patriotic body. I seriously doubt the Cape La Croix cross was on public property when constructed in 1947, but expansion and development have engulfed it. But that's irrelevant.

Fellow Southeast Missourians, I challenge you. Call Annie Gaylor at 608-238-3338 and express your feelings, although she hung up on me. Write the Missouri Department of Highways and Transportation, P.O. Box 270, Jefferson City, Mo., 65102, and share your feelings with state officials. If you like, clip this letter and mail it.

How dare a small clique of 3,300 atheists attempt to cram their beliefs down our throats.

RON WOOLDRIDGE

Chaffee