I moved back to the Four Corners in January after a 30-year absence. Wow! Saddened at some change (Who thought a sewer plant at the gateway to town was a good idea?) but still an amazing, unique, beautiful place to spend my retirement.

I went downtown recently, grabbed a grass burger and walked to the train station. As I glanced across the street, I saw a disheveled, long-bearded man sitting on a bench with a sign that read “No money, no peace” and saw he’d placed an American flag under his feet on the sidewalk.

As a three-time wounded Vietnam veteran, I exercised my First Amendment rights and shared with him my opinion of people who choose to defile the symbol of the country so many of my beloved brothers had bled, suffered broken lives and died for.

I realize he has the right; it’s what those brothers sacrificed for. He’s free to offend. And you’ll find the cost of that freedom at Arlington, buried in the ground.

William Chandler

Durango