Dear Editor: 

After reading these two letters to the editor responding to Elsa Van Leuven in the Jan. 26 edition of the paper, these thoughts came to my mind. I am a longtime reader of the Downey Patriot. 

We in Downey are fortunate to have an excellent newspaper, The Downey Patriot, which is delivered to our home each Friday. It has great, well-written, easy-to-read articles, and best of all -- it is FREE. How can you beat that? 

Occasionally they print one of my letters to the editor. After one is printed someone will tell me that they have read it. This makes this very old guy (94 years) happy. 

One of my favorite contributors is Elsa Van Leuven. She is an older, well-educated lady who spends a great deal of time reading and researching material for her letters. When reading this page I always look for her letters because they are always interesting, well-written and well-researched. I don't always agree with her but I respect her opinion. 

In addition to spending time on letters to the editor, she is also known to call the offices of politicians and make comments about legislation currently being considered. 

There are far too few citizens who will take time to do this valuable public service for us. 

Byron Dillon
Downey