To the Berkeley City Council:

No one is forced to join the Marines by having a Marine Recruiting Office in their city, so what is the problem?

As an American citizen, I am horrified at the action you have taken against the Marine Recruiting Office in Berkeley. These are the very kind of people who make it possible for you to even exist. Where is your backbone? Have you no knowledge of history? What cowards you are! Without the military, Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and Marines under civilian control, how long do you think the United States of America would continue to exist? There are no freedoms without a strong military. Freedom is never free!

By your actions, you are saying to anyone with an idea of infiltrating or conquering this country, come on, take over, we don't want anyone to defend us, we just threw them out of town. If that ever happens, what rights do you think you will retain? Wake up, look around!

If you don't like the United States of America, maybe you are the ones that should get out of the town! Freedom of speech or freedom to assemble and all of our other freedoms are only guaranteed with our strong military under civilian control. The same is true about gun control. If government takes away the right, for qualified people, to own firearms, then only the criminal element of society will have the guns. Just look at England and Australia. Crime has greatly increased since the guns are no longer available for civilians in those countries.

Leona M. Butts lives in Clearlake Oaks.

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