LETTERS: LET'S FIND KINDER AND SET HIM FREE

To the editor:

State Sen. Peter Kinder was recently raked over the coals in a letter to the editor. It was alleged that Kinder is a captive of the tobacco industry.

The charge is correct, but I think it unfair. That is because I am convinced Kinder is literally a captive of tobacco-industry supporters. So instead of criticizing him, we should be trying to find and liberate him.

So that he will do their bidding, it is my belief that Kinder is being held hostage in a horrible looking and smelling underground cellar. I believe the culprits are aging tobacco advocate U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms and, possibly, a cadre of Cape Girardeau County libertarians. When the Missouri Senate isn't in Session, I see Kinder as being summarily dispatched to this dark, dank underground prison.

Thus, instead of publicly praising or knocking him, followers and critics alike should be out there trying to find and free him. Once that is accomplished, I am convinced he will jump aboard the hard-line anti-smoking bandwagon.

Until then, citizens should refrain from subjecting him to these unwarranted verbal assaults. I'm smoking mad about this.

STEVE MOSLEY

Cape Girardeau