Editor:

I am 71 years old and have spent many of those years in Cheyenne and consider this my home. I graduated from Cheyenne High School and many years later from the University of Wyoming. I pay taxes here. I vote here. I shop here. I have family and friends here.

Imagine my chagrin when I discovered, after the dirt Ms. Lummis recently threw at Mr. Trauner had settled, that I'm really not a bona fide citizen of the state because I wasn't born here. As I understand Ms Lummis' comment, those of us who were not born here don't have the same feelings for Wyoming. We don't understand it or the people who live here. Because we come from the East, the West, the North, or the South, we are outsiders - we are less than those who were born here. Oh, come now, when did a Wyoming birth certificate become a pedigree?

Ms. Lummis needs to change your viewpoint and realize that those of us who have come to Wyoming from other places are here by choice and, yes, our perspective is probably a bit different from Wyoming natives, but that's not bad.

Many of us are here to absorb, to appreciate, to recognize, to celebrate Wyoming, to stand in awe of its vastness and emptiness, to respect its toughness and wildness, to worship its beauty and grandeur, to share its uniqueness, to understand the independence and strength of those who live here, and to give back by working and serving.

Has Ms. Lummis ever considered that those who move to the state come with a better appreciation of what Wyoming is about than those who were born here?

When I look up at the blue skies over me, I know I'm home. When I look out at the hills west of town, I know I'm home. When I attend a game at UW, I know I'm home. When I talk to a friend about our winds and weather, I know I'm home. When I read about the legislative sessions and the obtuseness of some of its members, I know I'm home.

I'm sorry, Ms Lummis is all politics, and bad politics at that.

She shouldn't try to smear Mr. Trauner (and the rest of us outsiders) with an old, used Cubin brush. If she can't deal with the real issues confronting our state and our country, then she should step back and let a real Wyomingite step up to the plate.

Gary Trauner gets my vote!

MARY LOU MARCUM, Cheyenne