Just after I had commented to a business associate in Santa Barbara about the quality of coverage and editorials I had experienced in a recent issue of the Daily Nexus, I was reading through the following issue, specifically the Wednesday Hump column (“Columnist Shops Local Store to Purchase Pleasure,” Daily Nexus, Jan. 6, 2010). I was appalled by this article, and it is precisely why I had concerns about my young adult daughter and many other young impressionable adults being immersed in the “college campus atmosphere” when considering UCSB as an option in the quest for quality higher education.

I appreciate and understand the need for “freedom of the press,” but articles like this undermine the values that we as parents try so hard to convey over many years to our children. Values that we hope lead them to understand the blessings of close personal relationships and meaningful, lasting sexual relationships, not the “anything goes/free love” with anybody or anything at anytime.

This article has, in my opinion, eroded the substantial respect for this publication that had been building over time with many parents and businesspeople in our coastal community. That is a shame. I would hope that perhaps a bit more editorial control might be exercised in the future regardless of the many awards won by the Nexus over the years.