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To the Editor: 

It is rare that news gets me so worked up that I take the time to respond but the CNN feature about the man who gathered enough signatures on a petition to have the type of coffee the people of Berkeley (and visitors too) can drink, restricted to three types left me in wonder.  

Yes, we have the freedom to bring a petition forward for a vote, but we are becoming a global joke. We sue for any number of inane reasons mainly because we have become a culture that chooses not to take personal responsibility for individual actions. Now someone with more time than good sense tries to force his version of what coffee the population of Berkeley should be drinking. (Germany1936 comes to mind.) Is this man sane? 

Would someone please remind this misguided fool we have a Constitution that guarantees me and everyone the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We have choices built in our Constitution and I'll encourage him to move to anyone of several dictatorships, operating on the planet where he might find the appreciation for our hard-fought freedoms and life here. What does he plan next? To help us all choose what cereal we can eat? Fabric we can weave for clothing? Good grief the list is incredible - and so is his logic. 

I'll not tolerate that type of suppression of my personal rights, nor will I seek to visit a place that functions on such a backward level. Perhaps the Dark Ages haven't past into history after all. 

Sherrie Beshore 

Fort Collins, Colo.