We join with all our neighbors in mourning the tragic deaths of Ron and Fred Hudler and John S. Miller. Their senseless and shocking murders iare a tragedy perhaps unmatched in the history of Ashe County.

If, as authorities now believe, an attempted robbery resulted in these deaths, it reinforces the biblical truth, “The love of money is the root of all evil.” That a robber’s senseless greed might have cost the community two such leaders, as well as a very promising young man, is both frightening and appalling.

This tragedy comes at a time when, as most of our readers know, there is considerable controversy in the Town of West Jefferson over the firing of former Police Chief Robert Roten. The news of these murders has prompted us to decide not to publish any additional letters on this subject, either pro or con. We are doing this out of respect for the Hudler family at this terrible time. Having made this decision, we were very pleased to then receive a phone call from Robert Roten’s family, asking us to suspend any additional letters or articles on this subject, again out of respect for the Hudler family. We appreciate their concern, which every person in the community should share.

Politics and decision-making in our system is, by its nature, controversial. Our system is based on majority rule, not consensus, which means there will almost always be a minority who disagree