Do you not like what a certain letter writer says? Do you not like that the writer is in the paper frequently? Do you say to your spouse across the room, &8220;Why does the newspaper publish his letters?&8221;

To which we say, &8220;Why don&8217;t you write a letter about it?&8221;

The &8220;Your Comments&8221; section of the opinion page is a forum for community dialogue. It is about having a running conversation among the readers of the Albert Lea Tribune. Some people understand that and write frequently. Are they wrong for exercising their free-speech rights? No.

If you don&8217;t like what was said, you can retort it. Or if you want the conversation to change, simply bring up a new topic by putting pen to paper. More voices will lessen the impact of the frequent writers.

Because surely a newspaper isn&8217;t going to discourage speech. We are about speech.

And democracy is about speech. The more comments are made in the letters to the editor, the better the dialogue, and that&8217;s good for our community.

So write a letter.

Here is how:

– Send letters to via mail to Letters, Albert Lea Tribune, P.O. Box 60, Albert Lea, MN 56007, or via e-mail to news@albertleatribune.com.

– Letters must have one author. Petitions are not printed.

– Letters must include address and telephone number for verification purposes. Only your name and city of residence will be published.

– Each author may write one letter per calendar week.

– Letters cannot exceed 500 words.

And let us say here and now that we thank all our wonderful letter writers. Thumbs up to you.