As a longtime county visitor/then resident, I want to address the comments made regarding our Chief Joseph Days rodeo. Long before there was tourism, there was ranching — and rodeo. Our way of life should not be made to change because someone from Portland says so.

When you come to visit our county, we have welcomed you warmly with open arms, despite the fact you speed through our small, quiet towns and run down the animals that help make our county so lovely. We accept your rudeness, impatience and forgive you for the trash you leave on our trails, parks and along the highway.

We don’t tell you you how to think, or what to say — but you think you can tell us how to put on our rodeos?

We pray, we stand and salute our country’s flag, we openly support our law enforcement and military. So if you don’t like what you hear, then just put on your “big-boy pants” and deal with it. Because we call that freedom of speech and we defend those freedoms.

If you choose not to come here and go to the rodeo, that is your freedom to do so. So stay home. We will miss your money, but we will not miss your attitude.

Ruthmarie Lavezzo

Lostine