To the editor:

When I saw a letter in the paper last week written by Barbara Leviner Jackson, one thought came to mind: “What in the world is she up to now?” My second thought was that this could absolutely NOT be the poor defenseless woman that Robert Lee was talking about in his letter to the editor titled “Cruel words found an undeserving target.”

From my very first letter to the Daily Journal back in August of 2007, titled “Forefathers were illegal immigrants” until today, Barbara Leviner Jackson has always been very bold and outspoken, not the poor old pitiful soul that Lee described!

Barbara has been throwing out insults at me for a lot of years. And as I recall, Barbara, in the first letter that you wrote to the Journal in response to my first letter contained more insults than all of my letters put together. Please look it up!

Your letter was also published in the old Republican newsletter that Mr. Lee P. Butler had online. If anyone would like to look up the letter from the RCDJ, the publishing date is Tuesday Aug. 21, 2007, and the title is “People can talk all the crap they want” by Barbara Leviner Jackson.

Besides, how could Mr. Lee be writing about you? You are not poor and defenseless. You are no doubt a whiner though! Remember, that was my pet name for you: Barbara “Le’whiner” Jackson, and you always called me a flaming liberal!

Now you’re crying victim after the Lord has healed you! I do not believe that that is what your purpose should be on this earth. Do you realize how many folks die every day from cancer? Lots! You should try to use your blessing for the good of society and not get caught up in trying to rehash past words that you probably deserved at the time.

When I called you an ugly old ogre, I wasn’t talking about your physical appearance because I do not know what you look like. I was referring to your attitude — and from the theme of your letter, that obviously has not changed.

The saddest thing about your letter is the anger that you have inside for me. You should be grateful that God spared your life and you should strive to be a better person. Yet you are letting this hatred of me eat you up inside… just like a cancer.

I wrote in a letter to the editor once and asked you to just let it go. Now I know that that letter fell on deaf ears. If you were as sick as you say that you were, how in the world did you find the time to write and respond to every single letter to the Journal that I have written?

Beauty is only skin-deep, Barbara, but the ogre inside of you is alive and well. It lives and grows with your hate for me and anyone else in this town who would dare write a letter with their own opinion. And that is the truth, raw as it may be.

Like I stated in my letter to Robert Lee that he wrote in reference to or defense of this poor sick lady, if I wrote it then, I stand by it today.

Barbara Jackson says she told Mr. Lee that she did not announce the fact that she had cancer. You get no sympathy from me. God spared your life… Go forth and be happy with that, lady!

It’s not mocking someone to say that we now have child labor laws. We do! Thank goodness. As far as correcting words. I will not write anything that I’m not behind 110 percent.

Harsh words, brutal as they may be, are the price that we all pay for putting ourselves out there in the public’s eye, which in this instance happens to be the daily newspaper.

Mrs Jackson, if God had spared my life from a dreaded disease such as cancer, I would not use my second chance to attack others’ characters. Look in that mirror of yours and ask yourself: How many people did you attack in the Daily Journal to date?

I can feel the hate in your heart and I can hear the hate in your mouth.

And you, Mrs. Jackson, have written your share of harsh words to say the least about women who have written against you to the paper. I have no sympathy for you because I know this crazy insane game that you and your minions play! You attack folks until the breaking point and then all of a sudden YOU become the victim?

No, you are not my victim. I have always defended myself against every letter that has been written against me in the Daily Journal and I will continue to do so. I refuse to be your victim!

You went to stop Mr. Lee from responding to me? In a pig’s eye! You stopped by his shop to add fuel to the fire… But Mr. Lee obviously is different from the others you would manipulate. He graciously bowed out of your cruel game. He refused to be your pawn. That says a lot about his character!

Every word stated in your every letter has also been printed in the Journal and every letter that I have ever read from you has been to criticize someone or something.

You attacked me first when I wrote my first letter to the Journal titled “Forefathers were illegal immigrants,” and they were!

I won’t play your game, Barb. And to Robert Lee: This woman is not defenseless!

If the good Lord had spared my life and I had recovered from cancer, the last thing on my mind is what someone has written about me in the newspaper years ago.

If you want attention and pity, Barbara, you will not get it from me. Every letter that I have written in the past or that I will write in the future, I will always stand by 110 percent. God bless you and keep you healthy, ma’am. I will pray for you.

Patti Almanza

Hamlet