Dear Editor:

My counterpart in the Democrat party recently wrote a letter to the editor regarding the bomb threats happening at schools in the Tulsa area.

I agree that violence or threats of violence are not acceptable methods of discourse or protest in support of any ideology. The past four years, the threats of violence, and actual violence, that our nation has experienced in the name of ideology has risen to extreme levels.

No matter the party affiliation of those involved, pillaging, destroying, threatening individuals, schools or taking hostage entire communities in the name of ideology is not acceptable. And as a whole, reasonable individuals of any party should agree with that.

As far as the source of the current threats in Tulsa, the source(s) were still under investigation by the FBI as of my writing this on 09-03-23. Many times, things are what they seem. However, many times they are not.

No matter who is guilty, as with any lawbreakers, the rule of law needs to be enforced and wrongdoers need to be held accountable. We can’t control what others do. We can only control our own actions. We can choose to disagree on ideology, yet treat each other with civility. Let’s also stand shoulder to shoulder in support of what we can agree on for our community, our county, our state and our nation. And on this we can agree … violence or the threat of violence is not okay.

Marsheila Prior, Okmulgee County Republicans Chair