Suspension of Doonesbury Strips

The axing of Doonesbury may well be distasteful to you, but it is doubly distasteful to us readers. You have committed an act of outright censorship. How can we trust this “Big Brother� editorial policy in the future?

You say that you are guarding against publication of damaging material you know to be unfair. Hogwash! When another satirist, Paul Conrad, lampoons Ronald Reagan by exaggerating his physical appearance to show stupidity, or one of his paranoid policies, have you censored that? No, you have not.

Or when Ronnie himself grossly exaggerates the real and alleged transgressions of “The Red Tide that is lapping at our very shores,� where then is your beloved responsibility to guard against material you know to be overdrawn and unfair? Does the news media’s cry of “the public’s right to know� stop when it suits your purposes?

Aren’t you treating us as unaware children who must be led to “proper� thinking? Don’t you give us any credit for the ability to discern?

I am saddened by your choice of actions. I am sorry that you have soiled your rather remarkable record of credibility.

WALLY RICHARD

Chatsworth