Sometimes a response is necessary, especially when comments that have been made are mostly false in nature and condescendingly hypocritical.

Mr. Goodwin wrote that he was ‘angered’ by what he had read in the paper. Why would a person defending Christians’ right to say Merry Christmas during, well, Christmas and that no salutation should be omitted from use at businesses in the public sector anger Wayne so much that the Sunday school teacher decided he had to start casting stones?

I’m clearly not as well versed about the bible as Wayne, but I’m pretty sure that being a Christian isn’t about what you know, where you attend church (if at all) and with whom, what your status in that church is, what you say, what you do, etc. It is based, however, on what you believe... in your heart.

Stripped of all nuances, at its very core, liberty is freedom from oppression. Since Wayne made the completely absurd and liberal allegation that ‘Conservatives’ killed Jesus, then it’s no wonder that he doesn’t realize Jesus’ message to mankind was liberty for all.

One would think that a person with all that fancy liberal UNC-Berkeley at Chapel Hill education, Wayne would have the intellectual capacity to understand that liberty dominates every facet of the human existence, including the spiritual.

Nowhere in my letter-to-the-editor did I say that liberals are not Christian, that is something Wayne intoned himself and speaks more of how he thinks than what he tries to imply as if no one is smart enough to go back and check.

I think it’s amazing that most people understood the point of my letter was in reference to a comment from another letter writer, but Wayne apparently saw it as an opportunity to veil a political attack behind his religious status as a way to intimidate a Conservative voice into silence.

And maybe Wayne could enlighten us all by giving us the name of one Conservative atheist who thinks the very mention of Christianity should be removed from the public sector. On the other hand, I can name many liberals.

Mr. Goodwin also charges me with being ‘negative’, yet most if not all of what I write is directed towards pointing out the ‘positive’ aspect of the negative information that’s produced by the media, but then all liberals think questioning their policies is ‘negative‘.

Sometimes being negative is your only choice, such as speaking out against the over-bearing taxation the Democrat controlled state legislature placed on working families, that Wayne’s wife supported. Add the new tax increase on gasoline Republicans have tried to stop, but most Democrats have fought to keep, to the list.

He’s right, that’s just about as negative as it gets!

Wayne obviously still adheres to the old-school Democrat mentality where people like me aren’t supposed to be allowed to freely speak our minds and, heaven forbid, a media outlet should actually publish those thoughts.

He actually had the unmitigated liberal elitist audacity to tell the Journal outright, that they need to shut Conservative Republicans up. How dare they print criticism of Democrats right there in the paper... more than once a month!

Just so Wayne knows, being an elected leader does not in any way prevent, alter, or justify a reason to stop speaking out against what we think is wrong. As a matter-of-fact, a true leader does just the opposite and becomes more vocal as that leader fights for what he thinks is the right thing for his constituents, even if that leader is a Republican and was chosen in a ‘close’ election inside the county.

I’m still the same outspoken, Conservative rebel I was in high school. I just use fancier words today and I’m not afraid to speak out against the political hierarchy of which Wayne gladly participates that has ruled for decades, but is steadily losing elections, and has promoted, as Wayne did, that Conservative voices should be silenced.

Make no mistake, I intend to keep fighting for the values working middle-class people in this county and state cherish, especially against higher taxes and will continue to do so while promoting the Republican Party and fulfilling the obligations of my elected position.

Lee P Butler