LETTER TO THE EDITOR OF THE WYTHEVILLE ENTERPRISE

Hello. My name is Scott Martin and your paper recently published an article on Sorry Dog Productions and I wanted to first thank you for the great story on our film and the area. I was made aware of the editorial written by one of your readers and I thought since it was the editorial page, what better place to respond to this woman who seems to feel the paper and its publishers made a mistake by posting a photo on the front page along with the story. I have two children myself and I think all parents should monitor what their children see and come in contact with. In no way was the paper irresponsible in publishing the article. Ms. Carolyn M. Malin is, in my opinion, what is partially wrong with our school system today.

First, I'd like to commend the woman for having the guts to stick up for herself and taking the time to speak out on something that she obviously felt very strong about. She had no idea why this would be considered front page news for the community and let me say that her response was certainly not apparent with all the others showing up to work for free on our "sorry" project. In fact, all of the people were very grateful to be a part of something that doesn't really happen every day there on Big Walker Mountain. Yes, it was a "slasher" film and while it was not "Forest Gump" let me assure everyone out there that this was a good old fashioned horror film. That guy with the blood on his face was me. I happen to be an actor and I am still alive.

I'm sure Carolyn would have much rather opened the paper and seen the usual war photos or some of the true crimes happening in America but the newspaper decided to actually put something on the front cover that took some actors and brought a group of people together to do something that was fun, exciting and artistic. Let me also let everyone in on a little something that to me seems far more important and that's the issue of Carolyn teaching religion in her class room. My films range from love stories to horror films but everyone knows they are films and not real. This person who feels the need to bash my film is the person who is also responsible for teaching the children of many good people in Wytheville. If there are toddlers involved then the parents need to be responsible. If it's kids over the age of 7 then they are old enough to know it's a film.

What kind of paper would this woman have you publish? I wonder if she writes a letter to the editor when photos of real pain and suffering are published. I quite honestly felt like she was calling me the devil and calling everyone to pray for my soul right there in the paper. All I can say is people like this woman are the dangerous people. Religion should not be mixed with schools and whomever and wherever this woman is, everyone should be aware of it and take caution. I wonder if my letter will get published. Who knows. Either way I invite everyone to my website at   www.sorrydogproductions.com 

So I ask the same question she asked. What values to you want your readers to learn from your newspaper? The answer should be freedom of choice, speech, and the knowledge that you can do anything you want to if you set your mind to it to name a few. Or, we could just do what your reader wants and teach them the power of censorship. We could bow down and edit our stories for fear of losing her fifty cents a day. I'll bet most of your readers are for the free speech and something positive.
All the best
Scott A. Martin
Sorry Dog Productions, Inc.