After watching an inspirational State of the Union speech last night, I opened the Times this morning to see a continuation of hateful letters from Fountain Hills residents.

Our president reminded us what Americans stand for, what has made us strong and why we are admired around the world.

In his speech our president said, “We need to reject any politics that targets people because of race or religion. This isn’t a matter of political correctness. It’s a matter of understanding what makes us strong. The world respects us not just for our arsenal; it respects us for our diversity and our openness and the way we respect every faith.”

When speaking about racism and hate, he said, “It diminishes us in the eyes of the world. It makes it harder to achieve our goals. And it betrays who we are as a country.”

People who are sharing their hateful opinions and outrages untruths are damaging the town’s intellectual reputation and its chances for economic development and growth to the detriment of us all.

I can’t count the number of people who have told me they stopped their subscription because of the hateful letters. The constant stream of hateful, intolerant and misguiding letters diminishes the Town of Fountain Hills in the eyes of the world.

I like to think that this town is better than the letters reflect on the Opinion page.