I would like to thank Mike Mercer for his comments last week on the Joseph rodeo.

My wife and I and friends have attended two rodeos since moving to the county five years ago, but we no longer do so because of the attitude and commentary of the announcer. It sounds like the trend continues.

While the Joseph rodeo is a great event and I think it has great potential to bring people together and showcase cowboy culture, I have no interest in hearing the announcer’s political views. He may think it is cute to put his divisive rhetoric out there, but many of us are turned off by that.

Is it not possible to have the biggest public event in this county free of propaganda and political opinions? Don’t we get enough of that every day on our news feeds? How about a female announcer?

John Chlopek

Lostine