By George W Cockburn
posted
Jan 24, 2013
Dear Editor,
I have just finished reading the column "Reasons I did not get
flu shot..."
I am amazed, upset and appalled that the contents of this
article. For Brett Yates to insinuate that the responsible and
productive teenagers who are employed by CVS and Walgreen's are
"shooting up with heroin and Mountain Dew Code Red" is both
offensive and disgusting. Many of these responsible teenagers are
working to save money for college or in some cases to supplement
the income of their immediate families. This article is not
positive or constructive and certainly is not objective
journalism.
CVS and Walgreen's should be commented for giving
local teenagers an opportunity for employment instead of
having baseless accusations and innuendoes thrown at them by a this
negative writer.
I am a satisfied customer at both of these stores and have never
heard or seen any type of evidence that would imply that any of the
employed teenagers are shooting up heroin and Mountain Dew Code
Red. The working relationship between these teenagers and these
companies appear beneficial to both.
If Mr. Yates has the names of any teenagers who are guilty of
any of his accusations, I hope he will be a conscientious citizen
and report these names to the hot lines of CVS or Walgreen's
immediately or he can call the local police with the information.
Hopefully, Mr. Yates was asked about his source of names for his
accusations before this article was considered for publication.
I believe that these accusations should be rescinded and
retracted as well as a sincere apologize given to CVS and
Walgreen's and to all responsible, employed teenagers locally.
Thanking you,
George W Cockburn
Editor's Note: In Brett Yate's column, "Why I
didn't get the flu shot even though I should have" in the Jan. 17
edition he lists 10 "really dumb" excuses for why he did not get
the flu shot and is now sick in bed. The first excuse is his
irrational distrust of (what he assumes to be) untrustworthy
teens.
The definition of a column is a recurring piece or article
in a newspaper, magazine or other publication. What differentiates
a column from other forms of journalism is that it meets each of
the following criteria: 1) It is a regular feature in a publication
2) It is personality-driven by the author 3) It explicitly contains
an opinion or point of view. It is not necessarily a researched
piece or necessarily factual. This piece was labeled as a
column.
Tagged:
Letter to the Editor, Generation Y
