Editor, Times-Union:
Dear Mike Wood,
Thank you for your letter recommending exactly what I should do with my time and money. I certainly hope your recommendation is not based on the fact that I am a single, white, female whose opinions have caused the Times-Union readers to complain so much that the editorial staff changed their policy about the number of letters that from now on shall be limited to only two per month. (This rule change obviously applies to all contributors.) This rule has also prompted me to purchase those block ads myself — and with the generous help of many friends.
Please allow me to shed some light on your “food for thought.” First of all, I was an English teacher for many years (with a Master’s Degree), and I believe I did help hundreds of teenage “children”/young “adults” learn to read carefully and write proficiently. My intent was to provide tools of effective communication and the ability to read with purpose — that purpose being to gain information, develop skills to separate truth from lies and disinformation, or just for pleasure — and to write using thoughtful organization, good grammar, and language skills.
Secondly, who are you to determine how I should spend my money? Do you have access to my bank records, my expenditures, or my charitable contributions? (If you do, we have a big problem here.) Is there some rule of which I am not aware that I have to either be charitable or pay for what you call “political rhetoric?” I cannot do both? Bottom line: Nunya beeswax!
Finally, are you saying that my attempts to shed light on the horrible destruction being wrought on our country these days is not in some way an “attempt to improve the lives of people in a lasting and meaningful way?” So many people are struggling to live their lives, raise families, and just be good citizens, and they do not have the time to do the research, fact finding or true news gathering that I do. You’re correct. I’m sure many people do not read what I write; but I know for a fact that many people do. And, by the way, I do not repeat the same content over and over. (You have obviously not been taught to read or absorb what you read carefully.)
One last thing: you stated that I “defiantly have literary skills and passion.” Thank you for that, I think. Did you really mean defiantly, or did you mean definitely? In either case, I still appreciate your compliment.
Jeanne Tuka Schutz
Winona Lake, via email

Editor’s Note: Schutz was not the only person who was writing multiple letters in a month (sometimes in a week), which led to the Times-Union limiting the number of letters per person in a month to two. The letters policy has always stated that we reserve the right to limit the number of letters by an individual.