Lack of civil discourse?

I read with horror Daniel Rothschild’s letter to the editor in the PG entitled, “Mt. Lebanon investments.” http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11258/1174689-55-0.stm  In his letter to the editor, Dan is responding to David Reese’s letter to the editor, “Suburban jewel town loses its luster.”  Dan writes:

I share Mr. Reese's concerns about the lack of civil discourse not only in Mt. Lebanon, but also in American society. One need only look to our elected officials in Washington to see how often people talk at each other, not with each other.Mr. Reese uses examples of uncivil tones in local blogs in our community. I would suggest that blogs have some similarities to cable news channels. Each is influenced by the personality of the author. Just as there are cable news channels some people would prefer not to watch, so, too, they can choose to avoid those blogs that are not civil. However, the right of free speech is one of the foundations of a strong community.

I received two personal emails from David Reese on Monday, September 12.  Both were hostile in tone, to the point that I felt threatened.  I was forced to forward them to the Commission since I had no email address to forward to the police department. Two of the commissioners gave me Chief McDonough’s email address (cmcdonough@mtlebanon.org).  Chief McDonough gave me a non-emergency email for the police department, but warned me that it is only read during business hours and may not be answered until the next business day.  Here is the email address for

NON-EMERGENCY email. mlpdmgt@mtlebanon.org

I hope that David Reese didn’t send an email to Dan Rothschild about his blog too.  It took awhile to get to Dan Rothschild’s message, but as he wrote, “The right of free speech is one of the foundations of a strong community.”