I am writing in support of the several recently published letters asking you to stop giving space to Al Fonzi. I have been hesitant to write since I can well imagine that you might take such objections as a kind of success for the paper. It is not. I happen to disagree with most of what he writes, but that is not the issue. If you do continue to publish him, please include credible fact-checking. Though he writes for your opinion section, he includes assertions of things as factual that are not remotely correct. This does not seem to be true of any of your other columnists. They seem to have actually done background research on their topic.

Even in areas where you might expect a retired military intelligence officer to be informed, he gets it wildly wrong and your paper seems to make no effort to correct this. I would say it's the equivalent of consistently publishing conspiracy theories about the moon landing having been faked or the Earth being flat, however there is a vast and significant difference between the believing such conspiracy theories and failing to recognize the very real consequences of climate change.

Please find a conservative columnist who will write in good faith and stop publishing the misinformation and propaganda from Al Fonzi. I do not know whether his rambling is incompetence, negligence, or intentional manipulation. I would guess a mix.

Please, please stop publishing him. It's a disservice to your readers and community.

Roger Burton

San Luis Obispo