Oh where, oh where has our common sense gone; oh where, oh where can it be? Surely the vast majority of the 325,000 government secretaries and clercial employees are sensible enough not to be upset by a Beetle Bailey cartoon.

The AFSCME president, and the women’s rights director, both criticize Mort Walker for being insensitive and “fueling a sterotype of the lazy, bubble-headed secretary. …” Thank goodness our military folks are more enlightened. If the chairman of the joint chiefs ever complained about the constant thrashing that Sarge gives Beetle I bet G.I.’s would laugh him out of office.

We Americans have some very serious problems facing us. Comic strips is not one of them. However, the perception that a comic strip is so influenital is quite worrisome. Thomas A. Johnson Machias