ZOE: There's no excuse, Bob

I would like to respond to Bob Hunt’s letter on June 28. It was obvious to me in your commentary concerning my granddaughter Zoe O’Brien that it was really about your politics and your bitterness about a whole lot of things. There wasn’t anything in Zoe’s interview with the Coeur d’Alene Press about gun control or climate change, but instead about her activism in student safety here and on the nation’s campuses concerning school shootings.

You don’t know anything about Zoe but you had to generalize about her and the other young people who supposedly are ignorant of the hardships of life and don’t know anything about the history and don’t work and pay taxes. It’s hard to imagine you’ve been a father or grandpa to teenage kids. Your offensive letter hit the bottom and you should write one more apologizing to Zoe and all the other intelligent and precocious teenagers who choose to become involved in their communities. Zoe does work and pay taxes, and she’s on the honor roll at school.

Then for some reason, you had to mention your Vietnam experience as if she didn’t appreciate veterans. I’m a U.S. Navy veteran and served between the Korean War and Vietnam on a destroyer in the Pacific. Zoe’s dad is currently serving in the Navy Reserves after 11 years active. Zoe’s great-grandpa was a World War II Army veteran who passed away last summer in Coeur d’Alene at age 94.

While you essentially assailed Zoe’s intelligence, integrity and character, you revealed yours. I expected more from a Navy veteran — especially a Chief!

DENNIS O’BRIEN

Hayden