I was one of the 1,000 home-schoolers who spent many, many hours in Concord on Feb. 11 to attempt to testify on two anti-home-school bills, House Bills 367 and 368. I traveled 1½ hours to the State House, paid for parking and had to arrange a ride for my daughters to get to ballet class. I'm sure my sacrifice pales in comparison to many.

Imagine my disappointment at being told by House Education Committee Chairwoman Emma Rous that I (and countless others) would not be allowed to testify on HB 368, even after the hearing started 20 minutes late.

I was appalled at her discourteous treatment of the people who came to testify against these important bills. She interrupted several of her fellow representatives to complain about their testimony. People testifying in favor of the bill were not given this same treatment.

She scolded the overflowing crowd and threatened that she would shut the hearing down without giving everyone who wished to testify an opportunity to do so.

Behavior such as this is not befitting an elected official in a leadership position. It was an embarrassment to our citizen legislature.

DAWN LINCOLN

Westmoreland