Last week we were shocked by the violent attack on the office of a French satirical newspaper called Charlie Hebdo.

Twelve innocent people were killed ruthlessly by Islamic terrorist animals.

We mourn their loss and we admire their courage.

We wish that our own President and the publishers of the so-called mainstream media had half as much courage.

We don’t believe that the Muslim community interprets their religion as many of these terrorists do; it’s high time that the majority of Muslims who say they believe in peace stand up and condemn these groups and also the persecution of Christians in Muslim countries.

In our own country we have had groups as bad as the Islamic terrorists.

The KKK in the name of Christianity murdered and terrorized people in the most brutal of ways. They brought fear throughout the land for over 100 years until finally they were brought under control, in part by real Christians.

We should expect nothing less from the Muslim leadership in this country and throughout the world.

We pray that the folks who worked for Charlie Hebdo did not die in vain.

Free speech and a free press are essential for the survival of all of our freedoms, not only here but around the world.

We also pray that the President of the United States finally gets the message that you cannot continue to pacify crazed fanatics who are hell bent on destroying our way of life.

You might wonder if or how all of this affects a small community newspaper like ours. Although we are not threatened with death, we are threatened on a regular basis by intolerant folks who don’t want stories run or their name mentioned. We will never be bullied by such tactics, nor can we be forced to go away by such tactics. A community needs a strong and honest newspaper. We promise you that we will continue to work on being that newspaper every day.

God bless the martyrs of Charlie Hebdo.