Is it OK for gambling institutions on the public highways to have color pictures of its selectively “legal” gaming tables, promise of riches, performers, etc?

Or, is it OK for a city to disallow its local, hard working, family-oriented, tax-paying restaurants and hotels to (attempt) to compete during this recession without the same right?

The City Council of Oak Harbor has, unfortunately, decided that our local businesses do not have the same rights as Anacortes businesses or “legal” casinos. All we ask is a right to clearly and honestly display our product to the traveling public. This is no more and no less than any tax paying business should expect.

It is said that “one picture is worth a thousand words.” What would you rather see, a picture of a comfortable hotel room, a picture of a sumptuous meal or a paragraph of 1,000 words describing them?

Joel Douglas

Coachman Inn