To the editor:

In response to the letter “Protest balance” (Feb. 21), I have to commend the Journal-World on offering what I see as fairly unbiased coverage of the current antiwar movement. I’m glad that we are finally getting serious attention from the mainstream media, which too often seems preoccupied with convincing the people that what the president says is right.

As for our recent march, which was actually more than 1,000, I’m sure if proponents of Bush’s war plans organized such a march, it would get similar coverage. As a matter of fact, I’ve seen the J-W print photos and articles of counterdemonstrators as well.

The implication that a 1,000 turnout means that there are still 80,000 that agree with these plans for war doesn’t seem sound. By that logic, could we judge the pro-war population by the number of people who drive by our demonstrations and yell “Nuke Iraq”? This is about 10 to 20 a day, at the most, as opposed to hundreds of demonstrators for peace, and many encouraging honks and waves.

If you feel strongly about your views on this issue, one way or the other, I encourage you to do something about it, and writing a letter to the editor is a good start. I don’t know what’s going to happen in the near future, but I can tell you that now that Bush has told us that he doesn’t care what the people think, this “small but noisy minority” is only going to get bigger and noisier.

Josiah Legler,

Lawrence