I never grow tired of reading all the crap that the Jasper County commissioners, the county attorney and the county auditor keep putting out now that we have a real sheriff who will not cow down.

The very reason we all went to the trouble of asking Archie Dunn to run for sheriff is because we knew he was a strong man. He knows the law and has lots of years of experience with the Missouri Highway Patrol. We were hoping he would not take anything off of the commission. So far, so good.

The county auditor would not allow any funds for our sheriff to put the sales tax on the ballot for the sheriff’s department so we all had to go out and raise $55,000 to get it on the ballot. We got it passed with the rules that it was to go to the sheriff’s department and not be taken by the County Commission for anything or any reason.

The political machine in Jasper County at the get-go did not want Dunn for sheriff. They wanted their own man who they could tell how and what to do with the sheriff’s department.

Well, folks, we got Archie Dunn elected with an overwhelming portion of the vote and we didn’t have any trouble getting the tax for the sheriff’s department passed either.

The commissioners have been dogging him from day one and the county attorney and auditor are right in the middle of this power grab over the sheriff’s department. Just leave the sheriff alone and let him continue to get the job done of cleaning up this county so we can get rid of all these outlaws running around messing with our lives and future.

This reminds me of two bulls heading through the fence. I guess as long as the commissioners want to tear down the fence, we want Archie Dunn as our sheriff to keep building the fence because we aren’t going to stop and we aim to elect new commissioners and walk the lawyer and the auditor to the door.

I, as many around here, am tired of the stupid games these boys on the commission keep running.

I have been in Jasper County all my 68 years, so I am easy to find.

Happy trails.

R.C. “Chuck” Jennings

Carthage

Don’t stop now

Our women have been struggling for 164 years for their equal rights. They gained a lot with Title IX, but still have a ways to go.

The women’s rights movement started in 1848. It was an outgrowth of anti-slavery. As for the Republicans and Democrats, neither party did a whole lot to help them because the Suffrage Amendment was presented to every Congress from 1848 to 1920, when on Aug. 26 they voted to give the women the right to vote.

A couple of the states were for the women. Wyoming gave them the right to vote in 1869, and Utah did the same the next year. But neither state was in the Union at that time.

Some of the women that worked hard to get their equal rights were Susan Anthony, Lucy Stone and Julia Ward Howe. And there were men who also helped them: William Loyd Garrison, Windell Phillips, Henry Wad Beecher and Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Through all these years the women were beginning to do jobs away from their homes, especially when the country changed from farming to manufacturing. They went to work in offices and in the factories and they also went into teaching.

Ella Flagg Young became superintendent of Chicago schools from 1909 to 1915. Hatte Caraway of Arkansas was the first woman to be elected to the U.S. Senate. Hillary Clinton was talking to the Chinese about women’s rights. I think it would be better for her to help the women here. The Chinese will take care of themselves.

Many men still think that women are the weaker sex; they have a lot to learn.

Women have come a long way in their struggle — don’t stop now.

Clovis Steele

Webb City

Straw man argument

In his column (Globe, June 16), James Wheeler referred to same-sex marriage as a religious issue. This is an example of setting up a straw man. A straw man is a carefully crafted version of an argument that diverts attention from undesirable areas. Batman’s designation of Robin as the “Boy Wonder” diverts attention from the obvious child endangerment issue.

Another example of a straw man is when the concept of intelligent design is dismissed as being unscientific. This implies that what is unscientific is false. Aside from the fact that what is meant by scientific varies with the individual and the situation, scientific methods have developed from specific studies. Different subjects require different approaches. I have heard that no traces of instincts have been found in studies of DNA. So, we can say that the concept of instincts is unscientific. Yet there is no doubt that instincts exist.

Valiantly fighting a man of straw may be considered cute at a Girl Scout slumber party, but it is not acceptable in a serious discussion. And it does not become the dignity of a federal judge to use this form of argument in deciding a case.

Donald E. Corder

Baxter Springs, Kan.