Friday's volley of anti-Hooters rhetoric, both from the Board of Opinion and from Ms. Marmion's letter demand response. First, to address the question from the letter, is it so inconceivable that people who like a restaurant simply because of its food would be annoyed to see it slandered by prejudiced ideologues. I would hope that if I were trying to run a business that was being protested by people who are misinformed about it, or at best lack perspective, that someone who is not so ignorant would speak up to defend me.

The Board of Opinion and others who oppose Hooters take the rather arrogant position that their views represent those of the whole community. They do not. They in fact only represent the views of people who have the superfluous time to show up at town council meetings to make charges about public safety that even they know are preposterous.

Their real motive has always been to prevent the construction of Hooters because they find it offensive.

Fortunately, businesses are not legally required to appeal to everyone, so they had to manufacture other reasons, no matter how absurd.

It really is a shame that such a vociferous minority managed to interfere with the construction of a perfectly legitimate business. In doing so, they have not only infringed upon the rights of the business but also of the potential customers who were looking forward to having another establishment in town that serves something other than pizza.