On Tuesday May 17th 2011, the following letter was published in the Mille Lacs Messenger, a Minnesota county newspaper. It was also posted on the Mille Lacs Messenger's website.

Letter of the week - Anti-Catholic letters

Written by Mary Bannick
Tuesday, 17 May 2011 09:40

I wrote last week about the voter ID proposal. It is important to our future that our elections are honest. I believe that is far more important than yet another anti-Catholic letter from Thomas Dahlheimer. (ref. "anti-Catholic letters"

It seems that when he writes to your paper about the treaty debate, Indian discrimination, White cruelty/greed and now the Catholic Church, there is no limit to the number of venomous words he can write and you will print!

Is this because you agree with everything he states as "gospel"? (Jesse Ventura a source?)

Is this because you love to stir up people and divide the community? Is this because every conservative opinion is bigotry and every liberal idea is enlightenment? Just what is it with your paper? Maybe you should just give the man a weekly article.

I will continue to pray for Mr. Dahlheimer. As a Catholic, I would appreciate it if your paper would discontinue printing anti-Catholic rhetoric. Mr. Dahlheimer has made himself abundantly clear and further comment from him on this issue would be redundant.

I trust that I am UNDER 600 WORDS! Thank you,

Mary Bannick, Isle

Editor's note: I did not receive Ms. Bannick's letter last week. If I had, I would have published it. (For that letter, see page 6.) I have chosen not to publish Mr. Dahlheimer's letters in the past in accordance with our policy, which states that we reserve the right to limit how often a person is published. Last week we had room on the letter page so I printed it.

We generally allow each writer one comment on a topic and one response if he or she is taken to task by another writer.

Last week's letter by Mr. Dahlheimer will be his last comment on that topic for now. Judging one letter inappropriate because some readers might be offended would put us on a slippery slope. If letters perceived as "anti-Catholic" are not printed, then we would need to discontinue all letters and columns that might contradict someone's religious beliefs -- or lack of beliefs.

Our rule of thumb is to print all letters that adhere to our policy, and it is rare that we decide not to print one. Last week we decided not to print a letter because our staff decided (against my protests) that it attacked a local business. Our policy clearly states that letters of that type will not be printed. They should be addressed to the business, not the paper.

We welcome all letters, especially counterpoints that lend balance to our editorial pages. We're constantly on the lookout for columnists of any political viewpoint who would want to contribute on a regular basis. I have made this offer to several conservatives since I've been editor, but none have taken me up on it.

Brett Larson, editor