The agora in Western towns has always been our saloons, public spaces, places of worship and, of course, the newspapers' letters to the community. The letters allow verbal "gunfights," where we blow off steam and criticisms are aired.

Recently, corporate papers like the Vail Daily (and Aspen Times) seem to have lost their Wild West cojones. Vail Health advertises with the Vail Daily. The result? Social media has jumped into the void where the papers serve only their large advertisers.

Lee Mulcahy

Aspen