To the editor:

I applaud Dolph Simons for the Feb. 22 Saturday column. It put the “William S. Burroughs: Creative Observer exhibit” and the main stage presence of the “sultan of sleaze” filmmaker John W. Waters in a much-deserved perspective. Yes, Mr. Simons, you are right about the abundant “crazies” in Lawrence. They are well-known to a “crazy” like Waters. They helped promote and organize, and then flocked to this event featuring him, and that honored another “sultan of sleaze,” the late William Burroughs.

You are also right in wondering why anyone would want to do so, and right to ponder how the long-term cumulative effect of the values they embody, and proselytize, has been detrimental to Lawrence’s image. But, Mr. Simons, it shouldn’t be lost on you that for decades now your own newspaper has had a role in helping create this anything-goes reversal of values. If my last sentence here needs explaining, then you haven’t been paying much attention or you are in denial.