To the editor,
(This letter was also addressed to International Falls Mayor Shawn Mason and Falls Police Chief Chris Raboin)
During the early 1970s some of my co-workers and I stayed in your nice city when we made our annual fishing trip to Canada. We stayed at a local motel, ate at a local restaurant, and purchased supplies for our trek into Canada. In 1976, I took my children ages 7 and 11 and my new bride on the same trip, and again we contributed to your local economy. My last trip was in 1978 when my wife and I went alone to help celebrate the many wonderful things in our lives.
On June 14, I returned to International Falls to begin another fishing trip after a hiatus of 30 years. This time I had with me my son and daughter, now 32 years older, and two of my grandchildren, ages 11 and 15. We stayed at the same local motel, ate locally and of course purchased our supplies for our trip.
On our trip out of Canada on June 21, we stayed again. My son and I returned to the motel after making a purchase at Kmart. There was an older green car parked in one of the driveways of the motel, not far from our rooms.
I probably would have ignored the entire situation had they left well enough alone. A large dirty brown pickup-sort of vehicle then drove across the grassy area of the motel, stopping near the green car. A very loud recording began sounding out of the green car; the song exclaimed racially bigoted and hateful words, embarrassing me and angering my son. The music was so loud and offensive that the person in an adjoining room quickly closed their open windows. They repeated the lyrics of this disgusting song again, still at its original loud volume. I informed the proprietor, who had been at the rear of the complex and had not heard of what had taken place, and she headed out of the door. The offenders drove off.
Fortunately, I remained in control of myself and I managed to restrain my son. If we had been of the character these young people were emulating, there probably would have been very serious consequences. It appears our youth is attempting to tear down that which took us decades to repair and build.
Unfortunately, those young people failed to realize or understand the effects of their actions in these very demanding and challenging economic times in our country. We were tourists and guests in your city, regardless of our ethnicity. We had and were contributing to the infrastructure of International Falls by staying and making purchases. We were made to feel unwanted and not welcomed in your city. Surely, this is not the image you want the rest of the nation or the world, for that matter, to associate with your city.
John L. Fox III
Sadieville, KY