My ( edited ) letter to the Rome Hews Tribune.

Tuesday morning, after posting the entry about My Letter to the Rome News Tribune , I sent an email to the editor of the editorial page to find out if the letter would be published.It's the policy of the Rome News Tribune to call to verify the identity of the author and they hadn't contacted me. I got the phone call a couple of hours after sending the email and the letter was in Thursday's paper.
I knew the editorial staff would edit the letter. It's been my experience that they almost never print a letter exactly as written unless it's very short. Here is the part they removed:
"It is highly presumptuous of him to conclude that he knows how each individual demonstrator feels about the current war. His implication is that being anti-abortion equals pro-war. That’s quite a leap."
Frankly,I expected other sentences to be taken out........I was surprised by what made the cut and what didn't. The letter, as written, did go over their 250 word limit by nearly 150 words. If it was edited for length, those 3 sentences wouldn't have been enough. The letter I sent was not my first draft. I went over it, more than a few times, being careful of every word I put in.
Maybe, that's why the staff was unable to take out more. Taking out any more would have changed the meaning of the letter. As it turned out, I would have liked my comments on the war to have stayed in. But, all things considered, they could have done worse.