To the Editor:

I had hoped to avoid a running battle between your editorial stance and my political views. However, since you fired the first shot, I feel compelled to respond to your editorial in Thursdays (11/12) paper.

I ask you to identify where I am claiming a mandate. To my knowledge, I have not used this term to describe my recent victory. I have thanked the voters in Tryon for giving me more votes than any other candidate, including each of the two candidates that received your endorsement in an October 28th editorial.

As far as your comments concerning the Mayors percentages and my vote totals, interesting math as you call it, I would remind you that the Mayor ran unopposed, so I would hope he could manage to receive a larger percentage of votes than a candidate running along with four others for the two seats available.

One final note regarding your editorial tone. You thank the incumbents who lost, along with the candidates who tried and lost, and you assert they have your respect for stepping up. You wonder why anyone steps up, yet you fail to acknowledge the winners for stepping up, including one of the candidates that you endorsed. In fact, you make unsubstantiated claims against one of those winners.

Perhaps a friendly nod to their success and a challenge to work together toward solving our problems as we move forward would be more appropriate.

It seems you are looking backwards instead of embracing the future challenges thrust upon us. In the process, you are losing your editorial focus and whatever mandate you may have had.

&bsp; Wim Woody, Tryon Town Council elect