The lasting legacy of Tombstone

I enjoyed Rosemary McClure’s article [“The Spirit of Tombstone,” Oct. 30]. I lived in Arizona for 30 years, and my stepdaughter went to school there. She said those Tombstone kids were the meanest she ever knew. This was 25 years ago.

There’s a certain type of person who gravitates to towns like Tombstone. They like to keep things stirred up. Patagonia and Cave Creek are two more towns where the Wild West still lives. It’s entertaining at first, before you find yourself getting sucked into it. Then watch out.

KATE WAGAR

Minnesota

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REGARDING Kenneth Michael White’s Nov. 6 letter on the gun violence mentioned in the McClure article, I look at it differently as a retired United States history teacher.

How can we reshape our future for the better if we don’t know where we have come from?

Granted, the era of westerns was glorified on television and in the movies, and that a “show” is put on in Tombstone, but it is still part of our history from which to learn.

Some Southern plantations now have slavery re-enactors in their slave cabins.

I can’t imagine avoiding that either. The good, bad and ugly must never be forgotten or avoided.

LINDA VALLOW

Arcadia