Your editorial regarding the recent dust-up over an anti-choice banner was indeed right on (Banner Issue Is About Free Speech, The Daily News, Oct. 13).
Freedom of speech is a right we all cherish, however the issue regarding the banner was not one of freedom of speech as you asserted. The issue is, should the City of Kamloops use tax revenue to support a group such as the one in question.
This is not a paid advertisement, it is space provided on City property and a banner installed by City staff at no charge to the group. This amounts to an ipso facto support of a specific, extremely controversial organization by the City of Kamloops.
The policy that governs such displays is indeed appropriate and has nothing whatever to do with freedom of speech. It has to do with providing taxpayer support for questionable or controversial political and religious groups.
As taxpayers in the city, our concern is that our money is being spent on an organization that is both religious and controversial, not to mention likely to have the support of only a very small minority of citizens.
The banner program should be used for what it is supposed to do, and in our view that is to promote groups and causes that deserve our support as a city, not for fringe extreme messages.
If the Kamloops anti-choice organization wants to advertise its cause, there are lots of opportunities to do it without using public space and having us pay for it. Billboards and buses come to mind.
BILL LIGERTWOOD
Kamloops Centre for Rational Thought
