Opinion Letters

Letters to the Editor: July

Readers respond to recent coverage of a self-checkout, a truck that does not move, a parking lot, the moon, a missing Tuesday, and the hot dog.

The Reporter welcomes letters from readers. Letters should be under 250 words, refer to an article by headline, and include the writer’s name and town. We do not print anonymous letters, letters written on the back of a parking ticket, or letters that arrive by any animal larger than a dog.

  1. It Does Do That

    Re: “The Self-Checkout Said ‘Unexpected Item,’ and I Will Not Be Expected”

    I am the young woman who told Mr. Halvorsen, “It just does that.” I stand by it. It does do that. It does it to me, and I work here.

    Since the column ran, Mr. Halvorsen has returned to the store eight times to buy a single hinge. Each time, he lowers it into the bagging area very slowly, the way you would set down a bird, and waits. Last Tuesday the machine did not say anything at all. He stood there for 11 minutes. I believe he was disappointed.

    Kayla Brenneman
    Hollis Bend, Wis.

  2. I Am Not the Horse

    Re: “Real Americans Drive Trucks. I Do Not Drive. Allow Me to Explain.”

    I have driven a pickup truck for 44 years and 610,000 miles, and I have never been insulted the way Mrs. Merriweather-Dunn insulted me when she called the driver “merely the horse.”

    I am not the horse. I have a horse. He does not drive either, and I have never once written to a newspaper about it.

    Dwight Ankeny
    Corrin, Neb.

  3. Which People

    Re: “The Arrows in the Parking Lot Are Not Suggestions, and I Am the Only One Who Has Noticed”

    I am 9. My mom says the arrows in the parking lot are for other people. I asked which people, and she said “the people who follow them.” I asked if that was us, and she said “not today.”

    Who are the arrows for? Please write back. I will be in the car.

    Mason Tull, 9
    Lake Ternby, Minn.

  4. Not in My Kitchen

    Re: “Should the Moon Have a Flag, and Who Is It For?”

    I will not have pickleball played in anyone’s kitchen in this country, and I don’t care what it says in the Preamble. My husband and I put down our linoleum in 1974, and nothing has bounced on it since, and that is how the Founders wanted it.

    If a woman wants to stand among her appliances and refuse to volley, she can do it at the park, like everyone else.

    Arlene Voss
    East Varnum, Pa.

  5. Has Anyone Seen My Tuesday

    Re: “Federal Panel Votes 5-4 to Rename Tuesday After Concerns It Sounds Foreign”

    I wish to report that since your story ran, I have not had a Tuesday. I had a Monday, and then I had a Wednesday, and my barber says I missed an appointment on a day he will not name.

    If anyone has my Tuesday, I would like it back. It had a lunch in it.

    Bernard Kinsella
    Pell Junction, Mo.

  6. I Am Ready to Be Contacted

    Re: “Is a Hot Dog a Sandwich, and Have You Been Contacted About It?”

    I have held the position that a hot dog is a sandwich for 31 years, publicly, at cookouts, and I have never once been contacted about it. Meanwhile your newspaper found five people in a single afternoon, and every one of them had been contacted, including one who had a man parked across the street.

    I have left my porch light on since July 2. I have prepared remarks. They are 40 minutes long, and I am ready.

    Gene Halloran
    Linden Hollow, Ohio