Writer defends chamber

To the Editor:

In Richard Moore's opinion piece entitled "Who needs tourism?" published on 10/31, he upbraided the Minocqua Chamber of Commerce's staff, and its Director, Krystal Westfahl, for sending out a questionnaire to area businesses that included a question on whether Beef-A-Rama should be continued. He ended his column with the following sentence: "If idiocy itself was a tourist attraction, lines would be long at the Minocqua Chamber."

Whether or not one agrees that the Chamber's survey questions were ill-considered, Moore's mean-spirited comment, in my opinion, was way out of line. The staff at the Chamber of Commerce are good people, work hard for this town, and are our neighbors. To insult them publicly, using this sort of language, is not professional and only serves to marginalize The Lakeland Times, not the chamber. Moore questions the oversight of the Chamber Board of Directors for allowing the staff to put out this survey. I would flip this, and question the publisher of The Lakeland Times' oversight of Richard Moore, whose vitriol is poisonous to the well-being of a small town.

I'm asking for a public apology from Richard Moore or Gregg Walker to the Chamber of Commerce Staff and Krystal Westfahl for this unprofessional and mean-spirited editorial. Until I see it, I won't buy another ad, nor will I renew my subscription to the paper. I suggest other residents of the Lakeland area and business owners demand the same.

Kirk Bangstad

Woodruff