I seek clarification on two comments by Steve Bouser in his Jan. 10 column, regarding the upcoming press coverage of John Edwards. You stated that "he [Edwards] has already put us on the map. He could go all the way this time, and it would be a tremendous boon for all of us."

To draw loosely from Bill Clinton's famous inquiry, I need a definition of "us."

Surely you are defining "us" as those of you at The Pilot? Perhaps John Edwards put The Pilot on someone's "map"? Perhaps you mean the election of John Edwards (how frightening it is to type those words together) would be a "boon" for all of you at The Pilot as far as subscription numbers? What you can't possibly mean is that John Edwards is responsible for our beautiful county and our historic villages and towns being "on the map."

I think Donald Ross, Frederic Olmsted, Arnold Palmer, Bullitt and Peggy Kirk Bell and Payne Stewart just might have had a hand in placing us "on the map" before John Edwards rode back into town.

And a "boon"? I seemed to have missed the "boon" that he was to "us" as a senator. I doubt Moore County would be "on his map" in the Oval Office.

James T. Sugg

Southern Pines