Don Rogers

Re “Friends in High Places,” editorial, May 8: I am appalled that my state senator, Don Rogers (R-Tehachapi), apparently has no qualms about sharing the podium with ex-klansman Louis Beam and lending his support to these people paranoid about an impending “new world order.” Doesn’t Rogers realize that he is being used by these groups? When he shares the stage with them, it lends an air of respectability that can only encourage them.

I would urge Rogers to visit the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Museum of Tolerance, where he will find a computer interactive map which lists the hate groups, state by state. Does Rogers know that some in these groups actually believe that the Holocaust never happened, or if it did, it surely wasn’t as bad as we were all told? Does Rogers know that some in these groups supported Richard Wayne Snell, the white supremacist who was executed in Arkansas in the wee hours of the morning of April 19?

The Times is correct to ask: “ . . . is America well-served by remarks (by Rogers) that might strengthen a movement in which some seem to think the assault gun is the primary tool of problem-solving?”

DAVID TULANIAN

Victorville

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You criticize Rogers for appearing at meetings where hate literature was disseminated and sharing podiums with undesirable people. You seem dismayed that he doesn’t have a problem with paramilitary groups “as long as they don’t break the law.” We seem to be dealing here with freedom of the press, freedom of speech and the right to peacefully assemble. What other articles of the Bill of Rights do you oppose? Or do you support these freedoms only if they are enjoyed by persons whose views you agree with?

R. E. HILL

Palos Verdes Estates