Clarifying comments in recent Independent Opinion

If you read the “Independent Opinion” column by Keith Hansen in the June 9th edition of the DCI, you may remember reading about ‘One lady I was confronted with at the Dodge Expo…”  Well, I am that lady and I would like to straighten out a few things.
This all took place at the Dodge County Business Expo on March 26th where the DCI had a booth.   In his column, Keith Hansen said I ‘confronted’ him just as they arrived at the Expo. When I stopped at the DCI booth, the Expo had been open for quite a while and all the vendors had been in place for some time. So, I certainly didn’t know they had ‘just arrived.’ 
As for ‘confronting’ him, what I told him is that several people had told me that they would not subscribe to the paper because of the strong right-wing content. Like it or not, that is what people have told me. You may disagree with their thinking, but they DID tell me that. 
Is that ‘confronting’ the editor?  By telling him this, I pointed out to him that he was losing customers/readers and leaving money on the table. Newspapers, especially small town, local papers, cannot afford to do that.
The opinion piece goes on to say ‘by the end of the Expo we had a civil conversation.’ The implication here is that I was not civil earlier. What I did was give him a fact in a calm way…I did not raise my voice, call him names, use profanity, or anything else that would be considered ‘uncivil.’ By the way, I did not return to that booth…I had other things to do, so I don’t quite get his ‘by the end of the Expo’ comment.
In case you haven’t noticed, the entire section was written to inflame. I was made out to be a bad person (the language of ‘confronted’, ‘by the end…we had a civil conversation’, etc.). He made it sound as if I was ‘laying in wait’ for him to arrive while I was just visiting the various booths as I went through the show. He made himself out to be the good guy and I’m sure many who read that column wondered who that awful lady was. Language matters and this language was chosen to divide.
I’ve lived in this community for a long time. For many years, we have worked together to make our community better. We certainly have not always agreed but we have still worked together. I think we all want a community where we can state facts and opinions without getting attacked.  We want a community where we can look at the issues that affect us and have civil, adult conversations about solutions without demonizing one another. We all see the effects of the division in our country; I think we all want a community where we respect one another…even when we disagree.
Mr. Hansen is apparently leaving, but we need our local newspaper. We depend on that paper for our local news (what’s happening with the construction on Hwy 57?), ads from local businesses, local columns, school news, etc. The emphasis here is on local. 
I get my regional, state, national, and international news from other sources and there are many choices. Some lean left, some lean right, but we all have choices.
For our local news, our local paper is basically the only source…we need that source. And we need that source to not tear us apart, but to encourage the community to work together to make our lives better.
Sylvia Rolfs is a Kasson resident.